"Deepening the Conversation on Aging"

Have you ever wanted to have a chance to contribute to a conversation aimed at providing guidance for national policy discussions? Kendal at Granville had the opportunity to host such an occasion on Thursday, May 28, when it became the site of an intergenerational  discussion on aging. The event was called "Deepening the Discussion on Aging." It was part of a schedule of discussions held all around the country, focusing on the problems facing aging Americans and designed to provide streams of advice to the The White House Conference on Aging, which will hold its national gathering in July. Kendal Corporation was invited to play a major role in this enterprise, and it in turn invited four affiliates, including Granville, to host discussions.

Seventeen panelists – including four Kendal residents, high school and college-age students from Licking County and Columbus, attorneys, a local judge, and social service professionals – participated in a sharing of views. David Skeen, a Kendal at Granville resident, was the facilitator and reporter for our event, and everything was coordinated by leaders in Philadelphia. Because the sprawling event was streamed, the various participating panels had opportunities to receive reports from one another.

Each of the four host Kendals had been assigned a specific topic to discuss. Granville's subject was "Elder Justice." After receiving encouragement from a prosecutor in San Diego – ah, the wonders of streaming! – we plunged into our work, and even though our guide may have wanted us to focus on crimes of violence against seniors, we found ourselves returning again and again to discussion of the types of scams that, when successful, rob the elderly of their wealth, dignity, and ability to sustain an independent life. Perhaps the gravitational power of this subject was provided by the poignancy of the tales that many panelists shared of friends or relatives who had been tricked by criminals. 

And the subject turned out to have complexities. As those versed in the law explained, there is nothing illegal about an elderly individual whom society deems competent to make whatever decisions he or she wishes about the disposal of personal wealth. So among the themes that emerged from our conversations were these: the need for people – children, friends, doctors, clergy, bankers, social service professionals, and neighbors – to remain unintrusively attentive to what seniors are doing; the value of having adult children maintain lines of communication with their elderly parents; and the importance of social organizations' working assiduously to keep an awareness of the dangers posed by those who prey upon the elderly before the eyes of the community.

The Granville participants felt that the conversations had been eye-opening. And so, no matter what happens nationally, there is already talk of organizing follow-up activities here at Kendal. The protection of seniors in our society against those who would target, rob, and cheat them seems an eminently appropriate task for a community like Kendal at Granville to undertake.