Charting new frontiers in aging at GSA

Had a blast attending my first Gerontological Society of America (GSA) Annual Scientific Meeting in San Diego (http://www.geron.org/annual-meeting)!  Upon arrival, I was briefly distracted when I (foodie that I am) learned that the 9^th annual San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival was taking place at the same time . . . but there was no time to discreetly frolic and detour because our GSA meeting was jam-packed with events scheduled from 6 am until 10 pm:  symposium and poster sessions, breakfasts and section business meeting lunches, award presentations and receptions, evening interest group meetings and dinners, film screening, mentoring and networking, exhibit hall visits, etc.

San Diego Welcomes signs: International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans conference ending just as our GSA meeting was beginning seemed to represent my own career transition from employee benefits to gerontology!  I hold a Certified Employee Benefits Specialist (CEBS) designation from International Foundation and the Wharton School, so I’d attend the annual conferences as part of my continuing education.  Since my previous career involved helping people with retirement security, the next logical step seems to be helping people during their retirement with all the issues that arise with aging--including their own retirement income crisis due to the declining three-legged stool (Social Security + employer-sponsored pensions + personal savings), increasing health care costs, longer life expectancies, etc.

 

Buffet of rainbow-colored ribbons:  Gerontology is an interdisciplinary field representing BS (Biological Sciences-orange), BSS (Behavioral & Social Sciences-green), HS (Health Sciences-blue) and SRPP (Social Research, Policy & Practice-red). 

Ribbons for my name badge: New Member (gold), SRPP (red), ESPO (Emerging Scholar and Professional Organization-purple) and Award Winner (yellow).

President’s Welcome Reception:  spotted Bobbie Yee, my aunt’s high school classmate who played matchmaker between my aunt and her cousin.  Bobbie was bridesmaid and I was flower girl at their wedding several decades ago!  Bobbie was also my introduction to the study of gerontology (“what are you studying?” I remember asking).

Exhibit Hall Opening & Poster Session:  this eye-catching poster on alcohol use in Stockholm displays the colorful fusion of arts & sciences.

ESPO Breakfast & Community Meeting:  immediately followed New Member Meet & Greet so I enjoyed a second breakfast at Marriott :-)  My attendance here was mandatory to receive Carol Schutz Award.  Thank you GSA and my accommodating SFSU professors for excusing my absence from classes last week so I could attend this awesome meeting!

President’s Opening Plenary Session:  GSA President Nancy Whitelaw told us that this year’s meeting was her 40^th!  Wow, she also mentioned there were 3,600 registered attendees, including 600 international attendees from 30 different countries!

GSA Executive Director James Appleby: great man who signed check for my award, thank you!

Keynote speaker James Fowler:  UC San Diego Professor of Medical Genetics and Political Science and author of Connected: The Surprising Power of our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives, discussed the social spread of obesity, smoking and happiness.

Autograph opportunities with gerontology authors

Breaking the Social Security Glass Ceiling: A Proposal to Modernize Women’s Benefits (SRPP) was chaired by Carroll Estes, author of Social Policy & Aging: A Critical Perspective (textbook used in my Aging & Social Policy class).  Symposium was based on a report co-authored by Estes at http://www.iwpr.org/publications/pubs/breaking-the-social-security-glass-ceiling-a-proposal-to-modernize-womens-benefits

How to Live on When Control Fails (SRPP):  Harry (Rick) Moody, author of Aging: Concepts and Controversies (textbook used in my Aging in Multidimensional Context class) told us this was really a Humanities session.  Instead of focusing on autonomy and control, he said the issue should be on how to provide dignity.  I highly recommend subscribing to Moody's free e-newsletters at http://www.hrmoody.com/newsletters.html

SFSU professors take the stage

What Will It Take to Care for a World of Older Women? Office of Women’s Health (OWH) Senior Advisor Mary Worstell, OWH Deputy Assistant Secretary Nancy Lee and SFSU Gerontology Program Chair Darlene Yee-Melichar held listening session to obtain input on access to care, health literacy, public-private partnership and the budget.

Research Strategies to Create an Age-Friendly World One Community at a Time (SRPP): SFSU Gerontology Professor Anabel Pelham led efforts with students to have Los Altos and Los Altos Hills designated as age-friendly cities by the World Health Organization (WHO).  She highlighted the need to involve all stakeholders and to emphasize that age-friendly is “good for all generations.” 

Aging in Asia:  SFSU Social Work Professor Rashmi Gupta started this interest group. Seoul, Korea will host 20^th IAGG World Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics meeting next year.  San Francisco will host IAGG in 2017 (http://www.iagg.info/news-iagg?page=1)! In the meantime, we can work to have San Francisco join the WHO Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities at  http://www.who.int/ageing/publications/Age_friendly_cities_checklist.pdf.

Today & the future

Honoring Contributions of Elaine Brody: “Women in the Middle” Revisited (BSS):  “Women in the Middle” refers to daughters, who are the main caregivers of elderly parents, caught in the middle to competing demands in their roles as mother, daughter and employee.  90-year old Brody mentioned testifying in Capitol Hill, before she retired 30 years ago, and asked why today’s gerontologists are no longer doing the same?  (Read her insights on being a "very, very old" gerontologist at http://www.geron.org/uploads/documents/AnInsider'sPerspective.pdf)

ESPO/AGHE: Exploring Post-Graduation Opportunities (HS):  listening to recent graduate Tara McMullen discuss working at Centers for Medicare and Medicaid inspired me to consider returning to the federal government to do policy work, which has such potential to make a huge impact on society.  But this seems to depend on who's in power and the prevailing view of government's role.  I previously worked at the U.S. Department of Labor under Secretary Robert Reich during the Clinton Administration’s first term (which enacted the Family Medical Leave Act, attempted health care reform and endured the federal government shutdown/Contract with America).

 

What Future for Social Security? (SRPP):  Moody (again, this time playing talk show host) with Andy Achenbaum and Larry Polivka.  Moody announced that he would be retiring from AARP and distributed copies of its publication, The Future of Social Security: 12 Proposals You Should Know About (http://www.aarp.org/work/social-security/info-05-2012/future-of-social-security-proposals.html).

Old Guys Rule ("The older I get, the better I was") t-shirts were a common sight in San Diego! 

These are just a few highlights from last week's GSA meeting.  Hope to cover more in upcoming postings so stay tuned.