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1993.09.22 :  First National Conference on Older Women

Contact:  Moya Benoit Thompson (202) 401-4541
September 22, 1993

     Fernando M. Torres-Gil, assistant secretary for aging in the
Department of Health and Human Services, today announced the
convening of the first National Conference on Older Women
entitled "Challenges in an Aging Society."  This conference,
sponsored by the National Eldercare Institute on Older Women, and
funded by the U.S. Administration on Aging, will be held Sept.
24-26 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, D.C.  
     The concerns of older women are part of the Administration
on Aging's key initiatives as mandated by HHS Secretary Donna E.
Shalala.  The secretary has requested that AoA look closely at
the special needs and issues of older women, who represent 60
percent of our nation's population over the age of 65.  
     In announcing the conference Torres-Gil said, "This
conference is an important step in bringing the specific issues
of older women to the national forefront.  I hope that this
conference will enable us to broaden awareness and educate the
public about the special characteristics, needs and contributions
of older women.  It is critical that we acknowledge that older
women, with their added life expectancy and greater numbers, will
be a dominant presence in our future demographics."
     The conference will open with a national forum sponsored by
the Senate Special Committee on Aging.  This forum, which will be
held on Sept. 23 at 10:30 a.m. in Room G-50 of the Dirksen Senate
Office Building, will be moderated by Portia Porter Mittelman,
principal deputy assistant secretary for aging. 
     Some of the featured speakers during the three-day event
will be Mrs. Virginia Kelley, mother of President Clinton,
Senator David Pryor, D-Ark., Representative Olympia Snowe, R-
Maine, and Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C. as well as HHS officials
including Torres-Gil, Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders and Larry
Thompson, acting commissioner of Social Security.
     The National Eldercare Institute on Older Women was
established in l991 by the National Council of Negro Women in
collaboration with the Older Women's League and Brandeis
University.  More than 50 organizations have worked cooperatively
with the Institute to plan the conference including the American
Association of Retired Persons, the National Council of La Raza,
the National Committee to Preserve Medicare and Social Security,
the National Hispanic Council on Aging, the National Indian
Council on Aging, the National Asian Pacific Center on Aging and
the National Caucus and Center on Black Aged.  In addition,
support has been provided by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration and the Social Security Administration.