Summit addresses economic impact of aging population

“One day,” said Ann Palmer Moss of the Elant Foundation, “it will be us.” That is why Elant Inc. and 130 members of the senior health-care provider community came together May 11 in Tarrytown for what was billed as the first elder-care summit in the Hudson Valley.

The region has compelling reasons to focus on the needs of the aging: According to statistics, there is an unusually high percentage of seniors living within the seven mid-Hudson counties, with Westchester leading the way with nearly 190,000 residents above age 60.

The rest of the Hudson Valley”™s counties are in the same predicament, attendees learned, with a higher ratio of seniors living within their borders than there should be statistically. Meanwhile baby boomers are beginning to show their ages and at the same time, the young professionals needed to fill their jobs are not in place.

Several speakers, including Steve Maun, president of Leyland Alliance in Warwick; Dan Sisto, president of the Healthcare Association of New York State; Carl Young, president of the New York Association of Homes and Services for the Aging; and Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano joined the forum, which addressed problems of housing needs, health care and the regional economic impact of the aging population.

All agreed more needs to be done to meet the increasing needs of current seniors, as well as to prepare for the inevitable: the day when we all face these challenges. How to meet those needs, and to deal with the current health-care crisis New York state is beset by, are more hurdles for business and health care leaders to tackle.

Keynote speaker William “Larry” Minnix Jr., president and CEO of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA) in Washington, D.C., said, “This (summit) should be happening all across America. We should start a ”˜Hudson Valley phenomena”™ when it comes to better care for our elders ”“ we are all getting there.”

 

He said his organization”™s own research using concept scenario planning not only looked at trends but uncertainties as well: “In 2002, the big uncertainties were technology and finance. In 2006, they are consumer behavior and talent availability ”“ I don”™t like to use the word ”˜work force”™ when it comes to the talent we need to replace workers.”

The biggest reason for the meeting, said the AAHSA president, was the dysfunction and the lack of cooperation between health-care providers. He hoped the summit would be a turning point, not just for the hundreds of health-care providers in the region but for the policymakers, as well.