Senior Summit

Senior Summit 2010 Wrap Up

The Future of Long Term Care Summit was a day of flexibility. With the Legislature still in session, the legislative panel was not able to attend. Robyn I. Stone, PhD from the Institute for the Future of Aging at the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging in Washington, DC stepped forward and presented her session on Workforce Trends and Needs from a national perspective. Her Power Point presentation is available here if you’d like to review it.

The concurrent sessions held in both the morning and afternoon provided useful information and created opportunities to think about future services and better ways to do business. Attendees were left with ideas and suggestions that could be used in their situation, whether they receive services or provide them. Use this link to go to the program and a listing of the available Power Point presentations from the sessions.

Lunch was excellent (we all love the desserts at the Capitol Plaza!) and was highlighted by a speech from Governor Mark Parkinson. Entitled “Our Aging Population,” the Governor showed slides of the population explosion of older Kansans over the next 40 years. His Power Point presentation is also available here. The Governor’s passion for this population was clearly evident in his talk. With his usual articulate style, he spoke from the cuff and his heart. As one person commented, “How many Governors’ can do that AND use a Power Point presentation?” Probably not many.

Dr. Stone closed the day’s events with a plenary session on “Healthcare Reform: Implications for the Future of Aging Services.” Many changes are set to occur over the next few years under legislation recently signed into law. While many unknown’s still exist, Dr. Stone’s presentation provided insight into how some of those changes may affect us. This Power Point presentation is also available.

Overall, the evaluations show the day was a success and met or exceeded the expectations of most of the attendees. There were some minor issues with temperature and noise that had to be addressed. Below are some of the comments taken from the evaluation forms.

Very much enjoyed listening to the Governor. His presentation was impressive.

The keynote speaker was excellent.

Really enjoyed and appreciated every speaker and what they each shared.

Thank you for bringing Robyn Stone to Kansas.

My first senior summit to attend and found the summit to be an excellent, stimulating, rewarding tool.

Great job, excellent speakers, well organized and I learned so much!

The Kansas Department on Aging and the Summit steering committee would like to thank all those that spent the day with us. We enjoy networking with everyone and hearing your thoughts and opinions. Some pictures of the day are available on the new KDOA Facebook page. It is our hope that you came to the Summit ready to learn new things and left with ideas on how you can have an impact on the future of long term care services in Kansas.

Summit Keynote Presentations