GBONEWS: NYT’s Kristof Keynotes Health Journalism 2024; Gen Z and Jon Stewart; Journalist’s Sons of Chinatown Memoir; Homelessness Solutions; Alzheimer’s Care With Montessori Method; Seniors and STDs; Language Barriers and So. Asian Elders
GENERATIONS BEAT ONLINE NEWS
E-News of the Journalists Network on Generations.
May 22, 2024 — Volume 31, Number 5
EDITOR’S NOTE: GBONews, e-news of the Journalists Network on Generations (JNG), publishes alerts for journalists, producers and authors covering generational issues. If you have difficulty getting to the full issue of GBONews with the links provided below, simply go to www.gbonews.org to read the latest or past editions. Send your news of important stories or books (by you and others), fellowships, awards or pertinent kvetches to GBO News Editor Paul Kleyman. [pfkleyman@gmail.com]. To subscribe to GBONews.org at no charge, simply sending a request to Paul with your name, address, phone number and editorial affiliation or note that you freelance. For each issue, you’ll receive the table of contents in an e-mail, so just click through to the full issue at www.gbonews.org. GBONews does not provide its list to other entities.
In This Issue: Wishes for a Memorial Day with Peace & Freedom.
1. THE CONFERENCE BEAT: *** NYT’s Nicholas Kristof to Keynote Health Journalism 2024, June 6-9, Plus Medicare Director Meena Seshamani and Sessions on the Long-Term Care Crisis, Falling U.S. Life Expectancy; AI in Aging Research; Deceptive Medicare Advantage Practices; and more.
2. THE GENERATOR: *** “Jarring Generation Gap,” polls on Gen Z vs. Boomer Values, by Mike Allen, Axios; *** “Understanding Gen Z,” Harvard’s John Della Volpe and Jon Stewart, The Daily Show.
3. THE BOOKMOBILE: *** Sons of Chinatown: A Memoir Rooted in China and America, by Journalist William Gee Wong, Temple University Press; *** Montessori for Elder and Dementia Care, Second Edition, by Jennifer Brush and Margaret Jarrell, Health Professions Press.
4. THE STORYBOARD
*** “Over the Threshold: Creating Solutions” (4-Part Homelessness Series) by Katie Scarlett Brandt, Chicago Caregiver Magazine;
*** “Easing the Toll of Alzheimer’s on Women,” by Selen Ozturk, Ethnic Media Services;
*** “Sexually Transmitted Infections Have Surged, and Age Is No Barrier,” by Catherine Pearson, New York Times;
*** “How to Help Your Loved One Navigate the Costs of Dementia Care,” by Kate Ashford, CSA, NerdWallet;
*** “Language Barriers Limit Healthy Aging For South Asian Seniors,” Part 3 in series by Meera Kymal, India Currents.
5. GEN BEATLES NEWS: *** Pawtucket Times Columnist and Author Herb Weiss Attains Archive-hood at Rhode Island Colleges’ Special Collections.
1. THE CONFERENCE BEAT
*** NYT’s Kristof to Head Health Journalism 2024 Conference Lineup: New York Times columnist Nicholas “Nick” Kristof will headline this year’s Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ) annual conclave, being held in New York City, June 6-9, to discuss his new memoir, Chasing Hope: A Reporter’s Life (Penguin Random House).
Also, many broader session topics will be more than relevant to older people, such as on racism, immigrant and refugee struggles, and Medicaid, following are some sessions relating directly to issues in ageing. Can’t afford the time or carfare to get a bite of the Big Apple? Me too. But keep in mind that the roster of sessions offers dozens of story ideas and expert sources. Here’s a sampling:
* “A conversation with Medicare Director Meena Seshamani,” who’ll talk with Ed Silverman, STAT News “Pharmalot” columnist and senior writer. The session blurb notes, “For the first time ever, Medicare is actively negotiating with pharmaceutical manufacturers as part of the first cycle of Medicare’s historic prescription drug price negotiations,” implemented in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
* “Combatting diagnostic error in older adults,” with our own Liz, Seegert, AHCJ’s “Aging” blog editor, and Journalists Network on Generations program coordinator. She’ll lead the discussion with Allie Tran, MedStar Institute For Quality And Safety, Senior Research Scientist; Patrick Coll, UConn Health, Professor Family Medicine & Medicine, Medical Director for Senior Health; and Gallane Abraham, Associate Director, Geriatric Emergency Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Mount Sinai Health System, New York.
Session Note: “Diagnostic errors affect 12 million Americans each year and account for roughly 80,000 deaths annually. . . Ageism on the part of providers can also impede effective diagnosis.”
* “Reporting on the growing crisis of long-term care,” also including and organized by Seegert, will present Jordan Rau, KFF Health News, Senior Correspondent; Robert Ingenito, a caregiver interviewed for the joint New York Times /KFF Health News “Dying Broke” series by Rau and colleagues, which GBONews highlighted last winter; and Lori Smetanka, National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, Executive Director. Says the AHCJ session blurb, “This panel will explore the extent of the problem, how reporters can find good stories, the role of private equity in long-term care, and potential policy solutions.”
* “Covering America’s life expectancy crisis,” will address why so many Americans are dying early. Says the meeting website, “The United States was once on a track to reach an average life expectancy of 80, but after decades of progress and despite spending more per person on health care than any other nation, we’re falling further and further behind. The Washington Post’s health team spent a year investigating what’s behind this drop. Join a panel of journalists involved in the project, a health equity researcher and a doctor on the frontlines.”
* “How AI is revolutionizing cancer detection and care,” will examine how AI applications “are making their way into many areas of health care including oncology.” The multidisciplinary panel “will talk about how it’s helping in the detection of cancer through mammography and pathology, as well as how AI is aiding in clinical trial design.”
* “How the immunology revolution is reshaping our understanding and treatment of cancer, aging, long Covid and beyond,” will explore how “breakthroughs in recent years are uncovering the importance of the immune system in developing—and in some cases therapeutically treating—a wide range of conditions, including cancers, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, depression, long Covid, asthma, aging and many others.”
* “How to untangle the Medicare Advantage web that’s trapped seniors in plans that deny care,” will dissect how “Medicare Advantage was created to save the government money. However, a recent report projected that in 2024, the program will cost $83 billion more than if the seniors enrolled in the program had enrolled in regular Medicare instead. The complex web of incentives for the insurers running the MA program traps seniors in a system that advertises $0 premiums and extra benefits but that also denies care whenever possible.”
2. THE GENERATOR
*** “1 Big Thing: Jarring Generation Gap,” by Mike Allen, Axios (May 21, 2024): The Dek: “From Values to Voting to Happiness to Economics, America has more than a red-blue divide: It has a massive generational divide.”
The Stats: “Washington strategist Bruce Mehlman spells out startling differences” in his “Six-Chart Sunday e-news. For example, a poll for NBC News by Public Opinion Strategies found Gen Z survey participants (ages 18-26) were “less than half as likely as the Baby Boomers [ages 59-77] to say Patriotism, Belief in God & Having Children are ‘very important’ to them.” And although two-thirds of Boomers (66%) said America remains “the best place to live,” only one-third of Zers (33%) agreed.
Economics: According to a 2022 poll by Pew Research, writes Axios, “Americans 18-29 were more likely to say they have a positive impression of socialism (44%) than capitalism 40%, with only 28% of seniors viewing socialism favorably.”
Politics: “Millennials and members of Gen Z are twice as likely to consider themselves political independents (52%) as the oldest generation of Americans (26%), according to Gallup in 2022.”
This short piece also includes other links of interest. GBONews.org readers may also notice the disparities in the age bracketing with Gen Z youth variously shown as spanning 9 or 12 years, while Boomers constituted a 19-year span, from the start of 1946 through 1964.
Prepositions Matter: Here’s an accuracy tip — Too much reporting continues stating wrongly, for instance, that the Boomers were born “from 1946 to 1964.” That’s 18 years, a full year and maternity wards full of babies, short of the number shown by the U.S. Census Bureau. That includes 76 million births plus 2 million immigrant minors brought to the United States for the Boomer generation. Reporters can fudge with, say, 1946-1964, but accuracy requires using “through,” not “to.” Gen Z births were from 1997 through 2012 (a 16-year period, three shorter than for the Boomers), and the Alphas, now underway, started on Jan. 1, 2013.
*** “John Della Volpe – Understanding Gen Z,” The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (May 9. 2024 (22:37 mins): John Della Volpe, Harvard IOP polling director and author of Fight: How Gen Z is Channeling Their Fear and Passion to Save America, joins Jon Stewart to discuss the Harvard Youth Poll. They talk about how economic stresses have been hard on Gen Z, whether the algorithm influences their opinions, and how the experiences of young people may differ from older generation.” Volpe’s research is certainly revealing. But this insightful discussion elicits some smart and apt challenges by Stewart to the professors suppositions that some traits by today’s youth are unique. Any Boomer out there remember – ah, what do they call it now? Oh, yes – The Sixties.
3. THE BOOKMOBILE
*** Sons of Chinatown: A Memoir Rooted in China and America, by William Gee Wong, Temple University Press. William “Bill” Gee Wong’s new book may have added that the book is also “rooted” in journalism to the subtitle. He was long a reporter for the newspaper formerly known as the Oakland Tribune, a past staffer at the Wall Street Journal, and later commentator for PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Wong spent 10 years developing this engaging blend of Chinese American history, his family’s dance through poverty and racist immigration policies, and his personal journey through the realm of newsrooms.
In declaring, “I consider Chinatown to be a place and a state of mind,” Wong describes the Oakland enclave where he grew up as a ghetto hemmed in by racist policies and policing, as well as a village that all but replicated the warmth of life in Southern China’s Guangdong Province.
Virulent “yellow-peril” racism of early 20th Century America was not only manifested in the “Chinese exclusion era, which spanned from 1882 to 1943,” but also infected the author’s family name, along with thousands of others. Of his father, he writes, “Pop had to engage in shady means to come here, first in 1912, and again in 1933 when he brought his family.”
He explains that the convoluted and hateful laws then barred Chinese men, who were allowed into the United States, from bring over their wives, a measure aimed at halting a presumed Asian population explosion. Although their family patriarch had the surname, Gee, once settled in California, he could only bring his spouse and their three China-born daughters here behind the ruse that she was his sister as well as the aunt to the girls. When more children started coming in the US, including Bill, they were officially born out of wedlock. Using a common practice, they arranged a paper-only “marriage” with a man named Wong. So although Bill and his three US-born sisters were Gees in Chinatown, they took the Wong surname, “a sign of the lengths my parents went to remain ‘legal’ in America,” he says.
One result of researching his family’s story, which richly reflects the American immigrant experience, is that Bill began signing his name, William Gee Wong in the process of researching the book. Bill, to turn 83 this summer, is the seventh child and only boy. He recounts his parents’ struggles to gain traction in US life. Initially, his “Pop” earned his way in the underground economy as a small-time numbers runner, at one point barely surviving being shot by a gambling colleague.
Like so many immigrants (such as this writer’s Russian Jewish grandparents), the Gee-Wong’s established a restaurant, serving typical Chinese-American fare. Bill’s chapter about growing up in and around the Great Chinese cafe, only a short walk from Oakland’s Tribune Tower where he’d work later, delectably depicts Chinatown living from its neighborhood customers to its quirky kitchen staff.
Marbled through the memoir is the author’s gravitation toward and eventual immersion in journalism. This aspect of the book provides a career profile of newspaper reporting in the last decades of the 20th century, but with the additional factor of what it took to break in to newsroom culture, often as the first Asian American.
Along with some sobering accounts of racism, Wong recalls colorful instances of newspaper work in the years before computers and the internet. After initial stints at the San Francisco Chronicle as an intern and a gig at another East Bay daily, he landed a spot at the now defunct San Francisco New Call Bulletin.
There, as he tells it, “The most exciting late-breaking story I worked on was an early-afternoon earthquake, close to our deadline. I happened to be on rewrite duty, meaning that I and a few other reporters were tasked with handling fast-breaking stories covered by reporters in the field.
“When the quake shook the city, the city editor, Harry Press (yes, that was his name) barked at me to start writing. I reached for a half-sheet carbonized paper packet* and put on a headphone to get the facts from our police reporter. I typed furiously, using a different packet of the paper for each sentence, calling out ‘boy’ (for ‘copy boy’) for a young assistant to take the sheet to an assistant city editor to start editing and moving the story to the copy desk. This work was high-stress for the minutes it took for me to rap out a ‘just-the-facts’ story, but it was an exhilarating adrenaline rush.”
All in all, he writes that while the book documents “raw, ugly racism” he endured at times, Bill Gee Wong also found “generosity, friendship and love from those not of my tribe. That’s America’s strength, an ability despite itself, to offer freedom, opportunity, and a multicultural community.”
Writers can media request review copies and press information from Gary Kramer, gkramer@temple.edu.
* Carbon packets? Coincidental to my reviewing Sons of Chinatown, I found the following in an amusing essay in the May 18, 2024 New Yorker, titled, “How to Live Forever,” by David Owen. While in college, he secured a summer job at a publishing company in 1975, and was instructed to write type letters from editors to authors.
Owen explains, “I used a typewriter, because there were no personal computers yet, and to create duplicates I used copy sets, which were sandwiches of carbon paper and thin regular paper. Carbon paper—for those too young to have any idea what I’m talking about—is paper or plastic film that is coated on one side with semi-gelatinous ink; when you press something against the un-inked side, the inked side leaves a mark. . . . I placed a copy set behind a sheet of letterhead and rolled the two together into my machine. When I’d finished typing, I had an original plus one or two flimsy but legible facsimiles, for filing.”
*** Montessori for Elder and Dementia Care, Second Edition, by Jennifer Brush and Margaret Jarrell, Health Professions Press: Under our “Who Knew?” department, GBONews.org recently came across this new book title, which may be of interest to reporters looking innovate approaches to dementia care along with expert sources. This text is from Health Professions Press, a leading publisher for professionals, and was written by international Montessori and dementia experts. Maybe you knew, but this editor had no clue that the techniques of childhood-education pioneer, Maria Montessori, are being applied by dementia caregivers.
According to their website, “This guide to Montessori for elders makes it possible for any care provider to understand and implement this innovative approach to aging. [It shows] care communities how to create and sustain a team that promotes elders’ functional skills, independence, and identity by integrating the Montessori philosophy throughout daily life. . . This new edition includes guidelines for intergenerational programming, added forms and assessments, more ready-to-use activities, and a step-by-step implementation plan.”
For a media review copy and press information, such as author information for interviews, contact Mary Magnus, Director of Publications, (410) 337-9585 x 180; mmagnus@healthpropress.com.
4. THE STORYBOARD
*** “Over the Threshold: Creating Solutions,” – Last of 4-Part Homelessness Series — by Katie Scarlett Brandt, Chicago Caregiver Magazine (May 19, 2024): The Dek: “How access to housing and medical care is making communities healthier.” (This is the final piece in a 4-part series on older adults and homelessness. Part 3 highlights street medicine. Read part 2 here, about women and homelessness. Find part 1, an overview, here.)
The Lede: Scott Anthony Franklin has been many things in his 61 years: a sous chef, a poet, homeless. . . . He had come a long way from when he was born — an event that nearly killed him. . . . Franklin has had an apartment on the South Side for the past six months, but he still travels the length of the city to see the friends he made during his time living in the park. During the five months he stayed there, he acted as an elder and referee among the dozen other unhoused people nearby. He says he would try to break up fights and defuse aggression. . . . Last year, Franklin ended up back in Chicago after his father underwent open-heart surgery. He had been living in Moab, Utah, but he wanted to see his dad, who passed away in December 2023. . . . Sometime during their reunion, Franklin ended up staying in the park.”
Housing: “Assistance from the Federal Housing Authority helped; in September, people from the agency came to the park looking to fast-track people into housing before winter. Franklin had just been hospitalized with a respiratory bug, and the agency connected him with an apartment near 87th Street.”
Hard Bipartisanship: “Franklin’s experience differs greatly from what many unhoused people across the United States are facing. In April of this year, the Supreme Court took up an appeal from Grants Pass, Ore. — a town of 40,000 people (including 600 unhoused) with ordinances that criminalize sleeping outside. Similar laws have been taking shape throughout the country in California, Florida, and elsewhere.
“The Grants Pass appeal has support from Democrats and Republicans, including California Governor Gavin Newsom. . . . Grants Pass and other towns taking the criminalization approach say they worry about increases in crime, disease, fire, and hazardous waste. But others argue that such ordinances will only increase vicious cycles of homelessness and poverty.”
An Alternative: “In Chicago . . . Mayor Brandon Johnson recently appointed Sendy Soto as the city’s first chief homelessness officer. Soto’s primary responsibility: to develop a five-year plan to end homelessness in Chicago. A grant from more than 30 philanthropic partners — under the umbrella Chicago Funders Together to End Homelessness — funds Soto’s position.”
A Quote: “ ‘Chicago joins a small group of cities that have taken the bold step of creating a dedicated position that ensures every resident has access to safe, stable, and affordable housing,’ Soto said at a press conference announcing her appointment. . . The $128 million renovation of Lawson House in the city’s wealthy Gold Coast neighborhood creates more than 400 affordable apartments.”
An Expert: “ ‘Affordable housing still doesn’t mean affordable for most people,’ says Tam Perry, PhD, associate professor of social work at Wayne State University. ‘And these issues cut across ages — at 30, 40, 50 you worry about affordable housing.’ ”
The Stats: “An estimated 21% of unhoused people have a significant mental health disorder, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. And insurance providers in the U.S. offer much lower coverage for mental health than they do for physical health conditions, according to a paper published in the British Journal of Psychology Bulletin. Out-of-pocket costs for psychiatry can run $400 per visit, for example. And though many unhoused people have enrolled in Medicaid, not many psychiatrists accept Medicaid patients.”
What’s More: “Part of the journey is helping local communities and policy makers understand the value of disrupting homelessness. All members of a community benefit when affordable housing is obtainable,” says Judith Gonyea, PhD, associate dean and professor at Boston University School of Social Work . . . . The solution involves adopting a shared sense of responsibility between government, businesses, and communities,” Gonyea adds. “Federal and state policies are important, but it also involves local efforts to transform communities so that all people can age safely and comfortably regardless of income or ability.’ ”
*** “Easing the Toll of Alzheimer’s on Women,” by Selen Ozturk, Ethnic Media Services, May 13, 2024: The Lede: “As California’s population ages, the burden of Alzheimer’s is increasingly falling on women. In response, the state has launched a new initiative aimed at raising public awareness about the disease and promoting early detection.”
The Facts: “Two-thirds of those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s nationwide are women, data shows, with many experiencing social isolation, misdiagnosis and stigma. Women also account for 60% of those caring for an Alzheimer’s patient, which can bring adverse personal, professional and mental health consequences due to unpaid and informal caregiving responsibilities.”
The Experts: “At an Ethnic Media Services briefing, [1 hour YouTube panel] practitioners and caregivers discussed why Alzheimer’s hits women the hardest, what can be done to ease this burden, and how caregivers are helping those with the disease.”
*** “Sexually Transmitted Infections Have Surged, and Age Is No Barrier,” by Catherine Pearson, New York Times (May3, 2024): The Dek: “Older daters are not getting adequate screening and protection from S.T.I.s. Here’s how to be a safer sexually active senior.”
The Facts: “Between 2012 and 2022, rates of syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia more than doubled among those 55 and older, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Research suggests many older people are unaware of these risks, and that’s keeping them from adequate screening and practicing safer sex.
The Expert: Sex educator for seniors, Joan Price, author of Naked at Our Age: Talking Out Loud About Senior Sex(Seal Press, 2011), said “She often hears some version of, ‘Oh, I can’t get pregnant,’ … or, “Our age group doesn’t get STIs.’ Men have told her they were reluctant to talk about barrier methods of protection because their erections were unpredictable, and using a condom made them go away. . . She has talked to older daters who were new to the scene after a divorce or the death of a longtime partner, and who felt uncomfortable navigating these conversations for the first time in years — or perhaps ever. Women, in particular, worried they would seem promiscuous if they raised the topic of using protection, she said.”
*** How to Help Your Loved One Navigate the Costs of Dementia Care,” by Kate Ashford, CSA, NerdWallet (April 25, 2024): The Dek: “Care costs can be overwhelming for those living with dementia — here’s how you can support them.”
The Lede: “People with dementia who live in long-term care facilities are spending a significant portion of their income each month on care, according to an October 2023 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association (JAMDA). The study found that the median adult with dementia in an assisted living facility spent nearly all of their income (97%) each month on care, and those with dementia living in nursing homes spent 83% of their income each month on care.”
Who: “Currently, there are nearly 7 million Americans who are living with Alzheimer’s disease, the most common type of dementia, says Monica Moreno, the senior director of care and support for the Alzheimer’s Association.”
A Quote: “ ‘A lot of them have made really responsible financial decisions their whole life, but nobody is prepared for this cost at the end of their life,” says Dana Eble, public relations and outreach manager at the Alzheimer’s Caregivers Network, a support network for care partners. ‘People didn’t even know they needed to save this much money.’”
Costs: “The daily median cost for adult day health care is $95, according to 2023 cost of care data from Genworth, an insurance company. That’s less than half the cost for a home health aide, which costs a daily median of $207. ‘A lot of people still don’t know that adult day care exists,’ [Amy Goyer, AARP’s caregiving expert] says. ‘That can be a real cost saver. And people can be in an adult day care center — depending on the focus and what their capacity is — pretty far into dementia.’”
*** “Language Barriers Limit Healthy Aging For South Asian Seniors,” Part 3 in series by Meera Kymal, India Currents (April 30, 2024): The Dek: “Linguistic barriers and cultural differences demonstrate how limited English-speaking elders can experience adverse events in their healthcare journey.”
The Lede: “In the middle of the night, the daughter of an Alzheimer’s patient jumped into her car and drove to her mother’s nursing home after receiving a call saying that her mother was very agitated and ‘no one could calm her down.’ Disorientation about time and place is a recognized symptom of advanced Alzheimer’s. Still, it took some sleuthing for the daughter to trace and eventually identify the cause of her mother’s deepening confusion.
“Dr. Mushira Khan, a gerontologist at the Mather Institute in Evanston, Ill., had interviewed the family for a study on care and support exchanges in immigrant South Asian families. The family are practicing Muslims, she said. The daughter realized her mother became anxious after a dog wandered into her room – the nursing facility had introduced companion pets for residents.”
Cultural Competency: “In the Muslim faith, the presence of an animal taints a praying space. . . This combination of linguistic barriers, cognitive impairment, and cultural differences demonstrates how limited English-speaking patients can experience more adverse events in their healthcare journey. ‘It goes beyond just basic language or linguistic proficiency,’ added Dr. Khan. ‘The long-term facility wouldn’t have realized its implications. How would they have known? Dr. Khan studies issues of access that create barriers to healthy aging among South Asians. She explained that negative health outcomes result not only from a lack of proficiency in the English language but also from the atypical ways different cultures use and understand language.’ ”
Also, see * “Asian Indian Elders Yearn For ”Apnapan’ (Belonging) As They Age In America,” Part 1–Aging in America, by Meera Kymal, India Currents (April 12, 2024): The Dek – “Asian Indian elders seek a place to call home as America faces a looming caregiver gap.” And Part 2– “Leaving A Legacy Like A Dewdrop On A Lotus Leaf’ – Asian Indians Redefine Aging In America” (April 18, 2024): The Dek: “Asian Indians are shaping a cross cultural view of successful aging in America.”
5. GEN BEATLES NEWS
*** Herb Weiss Attains Archive-hood: The impressive bulk of it, a 75-page list of publications detailing 1,059 articles on aging written and edited by Herb Weiss, plus three books published over 44 years, has a new home at the Rhode Island Colleges’ Special Collections.
A former staff writer for the Providence Journal, Weiss has long written columns and digital news site commentaries on later life concerns for the Pawtucket Times, Woonsocket Call, and RI News Today. Weiss, who holds a master’s degree in gerontology, previously spent years covering health and long-term care policy issues on the Washington scene, as an accredited House Gallery Reporter for numerous publications. He also served on the editorial boards of such professional-press media as McKnight’s LTC News and The Brown [University] LTC Quality Letter. All of this explains why the seniors column for local readers in this smallest state in the union, have been treated for years to generational coverage with such detail and depth.
Weiss has compiled two collections of his columns, 2016’s Taking Charge: Collected Stories on Aging Boldly, and in 2021, Taking Charge: Vol 2.
In Pawtucket, Weiss long served as the city’s arts and cultural “ambassador,” and recently he was appointed deputy director of town’s Leon Mathieu Senior Center. He’s also been appointed by five governors to a seat on the Rhode Island Advisory Commission on Aging, and was tapped in 2021 by Rhode Island Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio to service on the Advisory Council on Alzheimer’s Disease Research and Treatment. A local café has also named a lobster salad (delicious) and a hamburger (dangerous) for him.
Weiss hopes that the archive will provide researchers, students and maybe some reporters with background on policy and community issues in aging over the past four decades. Those interested in learning more about the archive may contact him at hweissri@aol.com.
* Weiss’s latest effort, “Bipartisan support needed to re-establish House Aging Committee,” on Rhode Island’s online RI News Today, takes up a concern of particular interest to this editor. Weiss recounts a recent Zoom meeting to advocate for the reinstatement of the U.S. House Select Committee on Aging (HSCoA), which the Democratic majority discontinued as a token bipartisan cost-cutting measure in 1993.
As Weiss explains, “The House Aging Committee was not charged with drafting legislation. Its mission was to conduct investigations and hold hearings to put the spotlight on aging issues that would ultimately lead standing committees with aging jurisdiction to craft legislation to address these issues.”
The HSCoA accomplished powerful investigative reports and hearings on issues such as on elder abuse and on ageist stereotyping in America, under its iconic chairmen, Rep. Claude Pepper, D-Fla., and, following his death in 1990, Rep. Ed Roybal, D-Calif. Weiss’s piece updates efforts to build bipartisan support for reviving the committee through House Resolution 1029, perhaps in the next Congress.
The Journalists Network on Generations (JNG), founded in 1993, publishes Generations Beat Online News (GBONews.org). JNG provides information and networking opportunities for journalists covering generational issues, but not those representing services, products or lobbying agendas. Copyright 2024 Paul Kleyman. For more information contact GBO Editor Paul Kleyman.
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