AGING SUMMIT

YOLO COUNTY AGING SUMMIT
Woodland Community & Senior Center
September 20, 2007.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER:
Dr. Michael McCloud - UC Davis. “ The Silver Tsunami”.
Dr. McCloud was very interesting and provocative. A summary of his talk follows:
The care of older adults is similar to the care of children.
In 1946, the birth rate increased by 20%! Between 1946 and 1965, the increase in the birth rate was 12%! There were 78.2 million babies born during those 18 years! We call them the “Baby Boomers.” 56,000 of them celebrate their 60th birthday every week. “Life Expectancy” has increased 8 years since 1960! The “Life Expectancy” during Ancient Rome was 23 years! Babies born in 2007, can look forward to living about 80 years!
We describe this group by - : “dream big; can be anything you want to be; cynicism; after Viet Nam - a distrust of the establishment; give me choices - I want options.” The boomers bought sports utility vehicles, which have never been off the road - the “Boomers” need them to drive to fitness classes! The Supreme Court nominees, for the next 20 years, will be Boomers! Labeling them as the “ME” society is a myth, for they are generous “givers”
When Dr. McCloud was born (circa 1950), there were 2,000 centenarians. Today - there are 60,000! The fastest growing segment of the population is 85 and older.
30 % of the Boomers are living pay -check to pay -check, with none having a net worth over $1,000. The medication contribution of the U.S. government will increase by 40% over the next 75 years! The dependency ratio - old and young vs. workers will change dramatically over the years.
Boomers will work beyond the normal retirement age. One in 50 will have Alzheimer’s disease. During the heat wave in Yolo County last July, 250 Seniors died! We must do a better job of planning.
Goals of Boomers:
1. Keep them working. The Seniors will not retire, but stay employed.
The Seniors will need the money, and society will need their knowledge and skills.
2. Keep them healthy.

Less than 2% of physicians have Geriatric credentials. Of the 125 medical schools in the U.S., only 6 have Geriatric departments!
- coumadin, lithium, digitalis and insulin.
There needs to be some incentives to produce more - give loan forgiveness to medical students in Geriatrics.
We need more health care workers - pharmacists, nurses, physical therapists, health aides etc. We need Geriatric Assessment clinics, that will provide better care than general practitioners.
“Prescription Cascade” - trial and error excessive use of medications.
There are four drugs that land the most people in Emergency Departments:
The brain produces images when vision is impaired by cataracts.
A cause of disabilities is over-mediation. Doctors and pharmacists need more “training in a list of portentously inappropriate medication for adults.” We need mandatory reporting of these preventable occurrences. There is more emergency care for such inappropriate drug use than there is for motor vehicle accidents!
We need to see more healthy-older adults aging in place.
Train people to be their own “geriatrician” - to age gracefully in place. What to ask your doctor? These topics are covered by Dr. McCloud in his Mini Medical School course at UC Davis. What a unique opportunity for seniors to learn more about their health and aging - and best of all - no Registration fee!
Dr, McCloud went on to say - “We need Adult -Day Health Centers - social workers and job consultants etc. on site.