White House Conference on Aging

Yesterday, we had a great lecture about the Aging Network, which touched on the history of the AOA, Administration on Aging. The AOA, which oversees the Aging Network, was created as a result of the passage of the OAA, the Older American's Act in 1965. According to the site, the OAA:

The original legislation established authority for grants to States for community planning and social services, research and development projects, and personnel training in the field of aging.

Ever since the passage of the OAA and subsequent creation of the AOA in 1965, there has been a once-a-decade White House Conference on Aging. President Bush was notoriously absent from the most recent White House Conference on Aging, which was held in December, 2005. Instead of having a speaking at the conference, as all of his predecessors have done since its inception, President Bush was stumping the successful passage of the Medicare Part D law.

The website for the White House Conference on Aging is pretty thin on info... essentially a splash page that doesn't so much as highlight successes of conferences past. It does, however offer a webcast of the most recent conference... I find it more than mildly disturbing that the webcast is hosted via "Kaisernetwork.org." Can you say "conflict of interest" anyone?

The main takeaway from the White House Conference on Aging site is the executive summary the most recent, 2005, conference, which was entitled "The Booming Dynamics of Aging." Here's the direct link, should you prefer to copy and paste:

http://www.whcoa.gov/Final_Report_June_14nowater.doc