Ed. note: This was originally published on the HHS.gov blog.
Today is a special day at the White House. Every decade since 1961, the White House Conference on Aging has brought together men and women from across the country who are working to improve the lives of older Americans. And today marks the sixth and largest White House Conference on Aging.
I’m looking forward to the opportunity to talk about some new things we’re launching to support older Americans and the dedicated health workers who care for them.
Today, we’re announcing $35.7 million in awards for geriatrics workforce training. With these funds, we’re supporting geriatric education centers, training and continuing education for the men and women who care for older Americans. We’ll support older Americans’ self-management, improve their family’s ability to engage with their care and lend a hand to their caretakers.
We’re also proposing some new guidelines to improve high quality care in Long Term Care Facilities across the country. There are 15,000 facilities across the country that we will reach with these new measures, which means many more Americans will get higher quality care, and many nurse aides will be able to access new training on handling dementia patients and preventing elder abuse.
We also encourage older Americans and their families and caretakers to visit Aging.gov, a resource for information that can help older adults live independent and fulfilling lives.
These announcements build on the work we’ve done through programs like “Money Follows the Person”, which has helped over 40,500 older Americans choose the care they want, and the “Community First Choice Option” which supports states in providing home and community-based care for Medicaid enrollees.
As we prepared for this White House Conference on Aging, we traveled across the country and hosted five regional forums, held virtual webinars and, in the process, heard from thousands of Americans. They all shared a deep respect for older Americans and a commitment to make it easier to access the supports that we’ll all need as we get older.
That respect and commitment is what we hope to inspire at the White House Conference on Aging. Thanks to the countless Americans working to improve the lives of older Americans, getting older is truly getting better.
That respect and commitment is what we hope to inspire at the White House Conference on Aging. Thanks to the countless Americans working to improve the lives of older Americans, getting older is truly getting better.