Date: July 11, 2005
Contact: Barbara Schoof Conant
barbaraconant@aging.state.ks.us
Director of Communications
(785) 296-6154
Kansas Department on Aging will solicit Kansans’ input at a “Solutions Forum” to assist the White House Conference on Aging to identify and refine issues that are important to current seniors and “rising” seniors that include the 78 million baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964. The Kansas session is one of 19 forums in the nation that was scheduled and designated by the WHCoA. KDOA officials, Kansas conference delegates and WHCoA Policy Committee representatives will be present to hear participant comments. The Forum will be held from 10:00-11:30 a.m. Wednesday, July 13, at the Ramada Inn Downtown, 420 SE 6th, Topeka.
The 2005 White House Conference on Aging (WHCoA) will be held in Washington, D.C., from December 11 to 14, 2005. The WHCoA will be the fifth in the history of our nation and the first such Conference of the 21 st Century. White House Conferences on Aging occur once a decade and have served as catalysts for the development and enhancement of national, state and local aging policies in the United States.
The theme for the 2005 WHCoA is “The Booming Dynamics of Aging: From Awareness to Action.” Secretary of Aging Pamela Johnson-Betts said, “The WHCoA Policy Committee recognizes to make changes for seniors in our nation it will take more than Federal implementation -- States and communities must also be engaged.” She noted, “As of July 2, 2005, over one-half of all Americans are 50 years of age or over so now is the time to listen to our citizens and ramp up the implementation of positive changes that can help states to help seniors.”
Participants’ input at the “Solutions Forum” will be summarized in a Kansas report and submitted to the WHCoA Policy and Advisory Committees. Kansas and other States’ input will be used to generate 75-100 resolutions for the WHCoA delegates to vote on in December. The resolutions chosen will be based on a combination of: most frequently proposed resolutions, greatest impact on senior population and/or applicability to baby boomers. Kansas will be represented at the conference by nine delegates – three named by Governor Kathleen Sebelius and six named by members of the Kansas Congressional Delegation.
A draft report from the conference of 50 prioritized resolutions selected by the delegates will then be sent to Governors (by March 2006) and a final report sent for action to the President and Congress (by June 2006). More information about the “Solutions Forum” can be obtained by contacting Wilda Davison at 785-296-4986. More information about the WHCoA may be found on the website http://www.whcoa.gov.