'SERIES ON AGING' CONTINUES DEC. 4
The second in a three-part "Series on Aging" continues on Thursday, Dec. 4, when U.S. Assistant Secretary for Aging Josefina G. Carbonell looks at the challenges facing caregivers of older adults. Billed as "A National Town Hall Meeting For Caregivers," the talk-show-style forum will take place from 1:30-3 p.m. at the Ted Constant Convocation Center at Old Dominion University. The series is presented by Senior Services of Southeastern Virginia (SSSEVA).
In addition to Carbonell, the highest-ranking official on aging in America, the town hall panel will include Sandy Markwood, chief executive officer of the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging, and Jay W. DeBoer, commissioner of the Virginia Department for the Aging. Cathy Lewis, host of the WHRV-FM program HearSay, will moderate.
Admission is free on a first-come/first-serve basis but tickets must be reserved. Contact Barbara Barnes at 461-9481, ext. 161, for reservations.
"One in four adult Americans is a caregiver for either a friend, a relative or a neighbor," said John Skirven, SSSEVA executive director. "Yet we have not prepared ourselves to be caregivers for our older loved ones the way we've prepared ourselves to be caregivers for our children."
Skirven says the town hall meeting is ideally suited for family caregivers. It is also aimed at helping employed caregivers and their employers, along with professionals in the field of medicine, human relations and human services. The question-and-answer forum will address such concerns as finding and providing care, and the impact a caregiver's role has on their own lives. Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group is sponsoring the Dec. 4 event.
The series will conclude on a date to be released next year when Eastern Virginia Medical School's Dr. Stefan Gravenstein looks at the future of aging in Hampton Roads.
The "Series on Aging" will wrap up SSSEVA's 30th anniversary year � one in which Virginia's largest Area Agency on Aging served more than 183,000 home-delivered meals to 1,100 customers; provided 52,000 medical and services rides to elderly people needing transportation; and helped 1,200 of its senior volunteers log more than 225,000 hours of community service with local organizations and nonprofit groups.