Assistant Secretary Carbonell Remarks from 2nd National Steps to a HealthierUS Summit - April 30, 2004

Welcome everyone!

I’m Josefina Carbonell, Assistant Secretary for Aging at HHS, and I’m very pleased to be here today to moderate this discussion on Healthy Aging.

The aging of America is going to require every sector of society to rethink the way it does business.

This includes the business of Prevention.

As the baby boom ages, we need to do every thing we can to reduce both the incidence and severity of disease and disability during the later stages of life.

As Secretary Thompson has said, “As life expectancy increases, we need to make sure we’re adding quality to those added years of life.”

We are very fortunate to have a growing body of science in the area of prevention as it relates to older people. This science clearly shows that it is not too late for older persons – even for older persons with impairments - to obtain substantial health benefits by making lifestyle changes. The science also provides evidence that we can achieve substantial savings by targeting prevention programs at older people.

We have with us today a very distinguished panel of experts representing various sectors to discuss some of the exciting developments that are occurring in this area, including:

- Dr. Richard Hodes, Director of the National Institute on Aging

- Robin Mockenhaupt ( Mock-en-hop ) from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

- Susan Snyder, from the Seattle Wellness Program, and

- Phillip Page with Benchmark Physical Therapy

Before I turn the “mike” over to my colleague Dr. Hodes, I want to take just a few minutes to talk about what the Administration on Aging is doing to advance the Secretary’s Prevention initiative for older people.

As some of you may know, AoA’s mission is to promote the dignity and independence of older people, and to help our society prepare for the aging of the population.

We are also charged with promoting the development of a comprehensive and coordinated system of care at the community level that will help older people to remain active and healthy and, if they need of help, to be able to remain in their own homes for as long as possible.

We carry out our mission by working with and through a nationwide network - known as the Aging Services Network. Each year, we channel about $1.4 Billion in federal funds through the states and tribes to support a wide array of home and community-based social service programs and interventions.

At the community level, our funds support over 29,000 service provider organizations such as

• senior centers,
• meals on wheels and congregate nutrition programs,
• specialized transportation services,
• home care agencies,
• adult day care centers,
• programs in senior housing projects, and the like.

Our community providers reach over 7 million people each year, including 500,000 family caregivers.

Having run a community provider organization for almost 30 years, I can tell you first hand that the Aging Services Network has been in the prevention business since it’s inception in 1965.

Many of the programs we fund include traditional health promotion and disease prevention services, such as those shown on the slide.

But we also provide older people with opportunities to continue to feel valued by society and to remain engaged in their communities through part-time employment and volunteer opportunities

– these programs are often important for maintaining one’s own sense of worth as well as one’s mental health in old age.

And we help people learn about and access health programs they are entitled to but may not realize they are eligible for, such as Medicaid – and the new prescription drug benefit and preventive services that have been added to Medicare.

One of our Network’s greatest assets in prevention is its ability to reach people of all income levels while they are still healthy – where the opportunities for realizing the benefits of prevention are the greatest.

We also have the ability to reach low-income, hard-to-serve, minority populations – where the need for prevention is critical, especially given the health disparities that exist in this country.

In support of the Secretary’s Steps initiative, I have made Prevention one of my top priorities.

My goal is to strengthen the capacity of our community service providers to deliver interventions that have proven to be effective in reducing the risk of disease and disability as people age.

I’m also committed to raising awareness among the senior population about the importance of prevention and small steps that older people can take to maintain and improve their health.

To advance our prevention agenda, last year we launched an Evidence-Based Prevention Grants program to demonstrate how we can translate the Department’s research into practice through our community service provider agencies.

This program involves a public/private partnership with

• NIA
• CDC
• The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• The John A. Hartford Foundation, and others

We have funded 12 community demonstration projects, and a national technical assistance center at the National Council on the Aging.

The projects are focused on the 5 areas noted on the slide.

I should point out that one of our projects is using the results of research conducted by Mary Tinetti at Yale that NIA funded. This research has giving us an intervention that has been shown to be effective in reducing the risk of falls among the elderly. Under our grant program, we hope to demonstrate how we can deliver this intervention at a reasonable cost through senior centers.

We’re very excited about this initiative and the potential it holds for improving the lives of large numbers of older people in this country.

We are also making Prevention a key element of our overall strategy for long term care.

Last year, we launched a $20 Million grants program in partnership with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid to help states set up “one stop shop” programs to help people with long term care needs.

This is our Aging and Disability Resource Center Program. It is designed to empower consumers by giving them objective information on all of their care options, and a single point of access to programs. We have funded 24 states so far under this initiative.

As you will note on the slide, we see these centers as places where older people can learn about – and be linked to – not only long term care services – but to health promotion and disease prevention programs as well.

Finally, this year, we are launching a national outreach and public awareness campaign to get the Secretary’s prevention message about eating better and exercising more out to seniors all across the country.

This campaign will be the aging component of the Secretary’s Steps initiative. We’re calling it the YouCan! Steps to Healthier Aging Campaign.

I call this the “2-2-2” campaign – because our goal is to mobilize 2,000 community organizations to reach 2 million seniors within 2 years.

Today I am announcing three “steps” we’re taking as part of the initial roll out.

First, I’m pleased announce that NIA, CDC and the President’s Council on Physical Fitness will be joining us as partners in this campaign.

Second, we are launching our YouCan website as a resource for community organizations who are interested in becoming community partners.

And, I am awarding mini-grants to 10 aging services providers across the
Country to support YouCan projects at the community level.

More information on these three steps can be found in the back of the room after the session.

Now, onto our panel presentations.

Disclaimer: This text is the basis of the oral remarks of the Assistant Secretary for Aging. It should be used with the understanding that some material may be added or omitted.