THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, May 1, 1995 TAG: 9505010041
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBRA GORDON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
For more than a dozen years, Suzanne Jacobson has snapped pictures of the elderly. In nursing homes and senior centers. On the street and at work. And while her camera's clicked and whirred, she's listened to her subjects' worries and concerns.
Tuesday through Friday, those voices will be heard, as Jacobson participates in the 1995 White House Conference on Aging in Washington. There, 2,200 delegates from across the country will craft resolutions designed to influence the nation's policies and programs for the elderly over the next decade.
Jacobson, a 59-year-old free-lance photographer from Virginia Beach, relishes the chance to step out from behind her lens and tell the country what older people want.
``I want them to understand that seniors are just as capable (as young people), and in some areas more capable,'' she said. ``I see them as role models for our young people.''
This will be the fourth White House Conference on Aging. The first, in 1961, led to such sweeping social reforms as Medicare and Medicaid, and the federal Older Americans Act, which established nutritional, transportation and home-care programs for the elderly.
The most recent Conference on Aging was in 1981. Unlike previous conferences, it sought grass-roots involvement, through more than 9,500 community forums held during the preceding two years. Issues raised included ageism; physical, financial and verbal abuse of the elderly; long-term health care; and the stereotyping of seniors.
The atmosphere at the conference was tense; it was held as Congress weighed cutting Social Security. The controversy came to a head when conference officials tried to bar then-Rep. Claude Pepper, an advocate for the elderly, from a meeting on Social Security.
In the end, then-President Ronald Reagan backed away from his plan to cut $82 billion in Social Security benefits over five years.
The 1995 conference begins just as Congress takes up debate on cutting Medicare, the health insurance program for the elderly. The Medicare fund is expected to lose money next year and could go bankrupt in seven years.
Even Social Security, despite politicians' promises that it is ``off the table,'' will be under close scrutiny.
So can we expect a repeat of the fractious 1981 conference?
``I don't think so,'' said Dr. Robert N. Butler, chairman of this year's conference advisory committee. Butler is head of the geriatrics department at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York.
``My sense is that President Clinton, who called the conference, is fundamentally in favor of the preservation and strengthening of Social Security and Medicare.''
Still, he added, ``I think there may be a lot of concern among the . . . delegates, worry about whether something could happen to Social Security or Medicare.''
The delegates' job, Butler said, will be to address how government can best use its limited resources. Additionally, he added, the delegates will need to consider how other generations figure into areas traditionally viewed as ``senior-citizen'' issues.
There needs to be consensus-building between the generations, he said, as there was when Medicare was created in 1965. Then, middle-aged Americans worried about how they would pay for their aging parents' medical care, and their concern helped create broad-based support for the program.
In fact, cooperation between the generations is the theme of this year's conference, called ``America Now and Into the 21st Century: Generations Aging Together with Independence, Opportunity and Dignity.''
It's a theme that's important to the 36-member Virginia delegation.
``I do think that's an area we as a nation haven't spent enough time looking at - how can we make sure we have not just programs, but programs with a more multigenerational look and feel to them,'' said Bill Peterson of the Virginia Department for the Aging. Peterson is the department's liaison with the state delegation.
Virginia's delegation has designated three priorities:
Accessibility for all ages to affordable health care.
National policies to increase job opportunities for older people.
Tax incentives to encourage families and businesses to work together to develop systems to care for the frail or ill elderly.
Virginia delegate Helen Spruill, 59, of Chesapeake, says her priorities seem to change every time she hears another story from another senior citizen. But she's sure she'll focus on making mass transit available to older people.
``Without transportation, so many of the other services, including health care, just aren't available.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by BETH BERGMAN
Helen Spruill, 59, of Chesapeake, is one of 36 delegates from
Virginia.
KEYWORDS: OLDER ADULT SENIOR CITIZEN ELDERLY by CNB