Changing Aging

Innovator Sean Kershaw, who leads the Citizens League, one of the country’s top non-partisan civic engagement organizations, calls for a new civic and intergenerational approach to aging.  He writes in his most recent “Viewpoint” article . . .

The term “long-term care” is revealing.  Long-term care is usually about long-term loss: the loss of authority, money, health, and connections to family and community.  Our system is based on an expert and medical model of passive consumption and limited choices.  And because none of us really want this, we avoid talking about it or planning for it . . .

We need to begin an intergenerational discussion to redefine the issue in radically new - civic - terms . . .

We should talk about how we all age, not just about “the elderly”; about harnessing wisdom and building individual capacity, not just providing more/better services and care.  We should talk about health and wellness, not just chronic illness; about taking personal responsibility for our retirement and for the economic health of future generations, not just how we pay the bills for the current troubled system . . .

You can read Sean’s full Viewpoint article here.