Department of Health and
Human Services
Administration on Aging
Speeches
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Remarks of Josefina G. Carbonell on Healthy Aging 2004 National Convention of The League of United Latin Citizens San Antonio, Texas, July 8, 2004
Welcome everyone!
I’m Josefina Carbonell, Assistant Secretary for Aging at the federal Department of Health and Human Services. I oversee the U.S. Administration on Aging, and I am very pleased to be here to lead this discussion on healthy aging.
Today, we are going to be talking about what the federal government is doing to help our older citizens, including our Latino elders, to remain active and healthy as they age.
I want to begin by introducing our panel of distinguished experts.
Mr. Horace Dickerson.
Mr. Dickerson is the Regional Commissioner of the Social Security Administration
for the Dallas region. He oversees over 4,000 employees in 151 field offices
in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and part of Arizona.
Horace Dickerson will talk about the role Social Security’s plays in
the lives of Hispanic Americans.
Ms. Deborah Billa
Ms Billa is the Director of the Bexar (pronounced “BEAR”) Area
Agency on Aging of the Alamo Area Council of Governments. Before taking her
current position, Ms. Billa worked for the Texas Department of Human Services
for 30 years, most recently as the Regional Administrator for the Long Term
Services Division. Deborah will be talking to us about her agency’s involvement
in two federal initiatives targeted at improving the health of Hispanic elders
in the San Antonio area.
Ms Evangelina Villagomez
Ms Villagomez is Director of Clinical Operations and Patient Education at the
Texas Diabetes Institute. Ms. Villagomez has been involved in clinical practice,
research and education in diabetes in Mexican Americans for over 19 years.
Evangelina will discuss her work in collaborating with the Bexar (“BEAR” )
Area Agency on Aging to implement a new diabetes prevention project funded
by the U.S. Administration on Aging.
We will use the following format for today’s discussion:
Each panelist, including myself, will speak for about 10 to 15 minutes, and
then we’ll open it up at the end for questions and answers.
So, please hold your questions till the end of the panel.
In my presentation, I want to tell you about the initiatives the Administration on Aging has launched to support the President’s and the Secretary’s Prevention priority for older Americans, and what we are doing to make sure our Latino population benefits from these initiatives.
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 carry out this mission by working with and through a nationwide network of state, local and community agencies, such as the Bexar (“BEAR”) Area Agency on Aging, to provide a comprehensive array of health and social services designed to help older people to remain active and healthy and living in their own homes and communities for as long as possible.
Let me briefly describe the older population we serve now – and about the upcoming growth due to the aging of the “baby boomers”:
- In 2002, there were 35.6 million Americans over the age of 65
That represents about 1 in 8 Americans. - By 2030, 1 in 5 Americans will be over 65.
Our older Latino population is also growing.
- In 2002, Latinos made up 5.5% of the older population -
Approximately 2 million. - · By 2050, Latinos will account for 18% of the 65+ population - Approximately 15 million.
In 2002, 72% of Latinos age 65 and over resided in four states:
- California (27%)
- Texas (20%)
- Florida (16%), and
- New York (10%).
Each year AoA provides direct service to over 8 million older persons and 500,000 family caregivers.
- 6.1 % of Older Americans Act recipients are Latino.
Before coming to the federal government, I worked at the community level for 30 years serving elderly Hispanic individuals in Miami, Florida. I know first hand the challenges facing this population and the difficulties associated with creating a system of care that is truly responsive to their needs.
The older Hispanic population I served was poor. They lacked health insurance. They suffered high rates of diabetes, obesity, and other chronic conditions that lead to serious health problems and disability in old age.
Language and cultural barriers severely limited their access to prevention, restorative care, and long term care.
As Assistant Secretary for Aging, I am pleased to say that we are addressing these problems head on in at the federal level, and our actions are making a real difference in the lives of people all across the country.
Ensuring that all older Americans, including Latino elders, have access
to the health and social supports they need is a top priority of this
Administration.
At the luncheon today, you heard…
… Secretary Thompson talk about some of the major initiatives we have undertaken
in this area, including the historic reform of the Medicare Program which is
now – for the first time – providing new preventive health benefits,
including a new prescription drug benefit to our seniors.
As part of our outreach effort for the new drug benefit, we are making special funds available to support the work of community-based organizations serving low-income and minority populations to help educate and enroll people in the program.
The Administration on Aging is partnering with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and a national coalition of private sector organizations, on this outreach program. I encourage all of your to get involved in this effort to make sure we reach the people who can benefit the most from the new drug coverage.
In addition the Medicare outreach effort, the Administration on Aging is supporting several other programs to help our older citizens to remain active and healthy. Prevention is one of our top priorities in AoA’s 5-Year Strategic Plan.
Last year, we launched an Evidence-Based Prevention Grants program in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute on Aging and several other HHS agencies and private foundations, including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the John A. Hartford Foundation.
Through this program, we are demonstrating how our aging services provider organizations can effectively deliver low-cost interventions that have proven to be effective in reducing the elderly’s risk of disease and disability. We are giving special attention to the Latino population under this program.
We have funded 12 community demonstration projects, and a national technical assistance center.
The projects are focused on the 5 areas noted on the slide.
One of these projects is located here in San Antonio. It is focused
on diabetes prevention and is targeted at low-income Latino elders.
You will be hearing more about it from Ms. Billa and Ms. Villagomez.
Another initiative we are working on, in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is the READII project. The goal of this project is to develop effective techniques and strategies for increasing the number of Latino and Black adults who get flu and pneumonia shots each year.
We know that approximately 50,000 adults die each year from vaccine-preventable diseases, and we know that Latinos have significantly lower immunization rates compared to the rest of the population.
- Only 49% of older Latinos received the flu shot in 2002 -
compared with 69% by non-Hispanic Whites – - And the gap for pneumonia coverage is even wider
with only 27% of Latinos receiving it in 2002,
compared to 60% non-Hispanic Whites.
The READII project is a multi-year demonstration being conducted in five sites across the nation, including one right here in San Antonio. The San Antonio project is being led by Metropolitan Health District, and I believe Ms. Rita Salazar, the District’s Outreach and Education Coordinator is in the audience with us today. They are partnering with our Area Agency on Aging to:
- Distribute educational materials;
- Immunize senior Latinos who participate in congregate meal programs, and
- Immunize the homebound elderly through the meals on wheels program.
- They are also immunizing older Latinos living in nursing homes through our Long Term Care Ombudsman Program.
Another program of importance to the Latino population is our Alzheimer’s
Disease Demonstration Grants to States Program. This program supports
the development of state initiatives designed to respond to the special
needs of Alzheimer’s victims and their family caregivers.
Since the program began, 49 states and Puerto Rico have participated. Several
of these have developed self-sustaining programs.
Earlier today, I was pleased that Secretary Thompson announced the awarding
of new grants totaling almost $6.5 million to twenty-four (24) additional
states. These new grants are in addition to the fourteen (14) original
grants.
Of the thirty-eight (38) states receiving these grants, one-quarter (1/4) specifically
target Latino families, and many more reach out to multiple ethnic populations,
including Latinos. >>>
On another note, I am also pleased to present today - hot off the press!
- a new Spanish language brochure created with AoA funds provided to
the Alzheimer’s Association National Contact Center.
The Alzheimer’s Contact Center provides information and crisis counseling
to anyone who calls 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
Bilingual care consultants are available everyday - day or night - to help
you or someone you know who may be dealing with Alzheimer’s disease.
I encourage you to stop by AoA’s exhibit to pick up a copy of this new brochure.
Another way AoA has focused attention on improving the health of older Latinos is through a grant we are providing to the Asociacion Nacional Pro Personal Mayores. This funding is being used to design health interventions to promote awareness and understanding of cancer, cardiovascular disease, along with an understanding of the impact of good nutrition on these diseases, among older Latino men and women.
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.
I encourage all of you to get involved in this campaign. We plan to activate it later this summer. As with our other programs, we will be making a special effort to reach out to the elderly Latino population. You can get more information on our YouCan! Campaign by going to AoA’s web site at WWW.AOA.GOV.
As you can see, we have many initiatives underway at the Administration on Aging that are helping our seniors to remain active and healthy, and we are giving special attention to making sure our elderly Latino population benefits from these initiatives.
As I noted earlier, Deborah and Evangelina will be describing how some of these programs are working here in San Antonio.
At this point, I am pleased to turn the “mike” over to our next speaker: Mr. Dickerson.
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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.
Photos
(LtoR) Horace Dickerson, Jr. Regional Commissioner of the Social Security Administration
(Dallas), Josefina G. Carbonell, Evangelina Villagomez, Texas Diabetes Institute,
Deborah Billa, Bexar Area Agency on Aging
Secretary Tommy G. Thompson addresses LULAC convention.