Volume 1

Long-range program and research needs in aging and related fields : hearings before the Special Committee on Aging, United States Senate, Ninetieth Congress, first session Washington, D.C. December 5 and 6, 1967.

  • United States. Congress. Senate. Special Committee on Aging.
Date:
1968-
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Long-range program and research needs in aging and related fields : hearings before the Special Committee on Aging, United States Senate, Ninetieth Congress, first session Washington, D.C. December 5 and 6, 1967. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    I submit that the way to cut inflation is to make investments in things of this sort that have future yield rather than constantly pouring our money into the programs to pay the costs of our failure to make these investments. The CHarrMan. Sitting for an hour bumper to bumper on the Schuylkill Expressway is an economic loss, isn’t it ? Mr. Smarr. Absolutely. The only ones who gain from that are the gasoline companies, who get extra gallons per mile. Senator Minier. Well, may I say that we could discuss this a long time. I certainly don’t want to cause this to get off on a very interest- ing subject but away from the essence of your remarks. The only point I would like to suggest is that maybe we could agree on this one proposition: That the best thing we could do as far as these problems of these older Americans are concerned is to put a stop to inflation, and then, failing to put a stop to inflation, the next best thing we can do is to work on some of these problems such as that tax-relief matter, which I personally think has a lot of merit, and some of these other activities that would enable these older Amer- icans to roll with the punch of inflation. Mr. Swapp. I will agree with that, Senator. I think, though, that some of the things we are doing create the very inflation that we are trying to avoid, but I don’t think that is within purview of this committee. The Cuarrman. We may be overlapping on the responsibility of an- other committee of Congress, but it 1s very interesting dialog. Mr. Suarp. Well, in late 1967, it has become quite evident that acde- quate housing alone is not enough. Certain health and social services are needed, by persons living both in specially designed housing units and in other types of housing, to help them to continue independent living and self-direction and to prevent isolation and loneliness. Chief among these services are casework and counseling with per- sonal and family problems. In 1950, national statistics on casework with older people were not being collected, but it 1s speculated that less than one-half of 1 percent of all persons recelving casework as- sistance were in the older age group, although the percentage may have been higher in some of the Jewish agencies. By 1960, about 5 percent of the pro oblems brou ght to a group of 279 family- service agencies were related to old age. ‘By 1964, between 20 and 25 percent of all cases served by 45 Jewish family-service agen- cies involved problems of older people. These figures represent a growing recognition on the part of a few social agencies of the need for counseling services for older people. There are no estimates of the amount of service available in relation to the need, but experience indicates that, in most communities, skilled casework and counseling service for the elderly is inadequate or nonexistent. It is evident, however, that the need for casework and counseling services 1s beginning to be recognized more widely in multipurpose senior centers, in housing developments for older people, in retire- ment communities, in church programs, in homes for the aged, and in recreation department sponsored programs for the elderly. Three years ago, the National Council on the Aging began to receive numerous requests for guidance in establishing meals-on-wheels pro-