The challenge of caring for the nation's growing elderly population was the topic yesterday at a forum in Mount Airy attended by federal health care officials.
Irma Tetzloff, director of the division of community services with the U.S. Administration on Aging, spoke to about 100 seniors at the Mount Airy Senior Center about the agency's role in improving the quality of life for the country's senior population.
"Our main function is to be advocates for older people and to push for money for programs to allow them to live in their own communities in their own homes," Ms. Tetzloff said, to much applause.
Officials from the Administration on Aging and the Health Care Financing Administration, which administers the Medicare and Medicaid insurance programs, came at the invitation of Jan Flora, director of Carroll's Bureau of Aging.
Ms. Tetzloff said programs serving the elderly will face great challenges as the baby boomers become seniors.
By 2030, one in five people will be over 65, compared with one in eight today, she said. "The question is whether we can adequately plan for what our needs are going to be 10 years from now."
Women and children, who traditionally have cared for elderly parents or spouses, aren't filling that role as frequently anymore, Ms. Tetzloff said.
"Before, families lived within 20 to 30 miles of each other," Ms. Tetzloff said. "Now, families aren't always close by to do all the little things people expect and need as they become a little more frail."
Ms. Tetzloff said the recent elections mean changes for national programs for seniors, including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. But she said she doesn't know what those changes may be.
"We don't think entitlements can be cut very much farther," she said. "As far as the elderly are concerned, they're pretty much bare-bone.
"But we have a lot of younger taxpayers in their 20s and 30s who say older people get too much."
The Administration on Aging is focusing on four areas related to seniors, she said: the aging baby boomers, making businesses more aware of the growing number of senior consumers, increasing home and community-based services for seniors, and promoting good nutrition for seniors.
Ms. Tetzloff said malnutrition frequently is the cause of deteriorating health in the elderly population.
"There needs to be a lot more emphasis on older people knowing how to eat and have access to good food services," she said.
The White House Conference on Aging is scheduled for May 1995.
At the conference, Ms. Tetzloff said, she expects the focus will be on how to provide long-term care to seniors in their homes.