A Busy Week in the World of Aging

It's been awhile. I've been so busy with my "part time" retirement job that I haven't written the next chapter of my life as a Gerontologist. But who says I have to go in chronological order? Since I am still working in the field of aging, I will tell you what I did all day last week as Executive Director of the New York Citizens Committee on Aging, a very small advocacy organization that's been around for almost fifty years.

Last Monday a week ago, I arrived at my tiny office in the lobby of a high rise senior housing building at about 8 a.m. I checked the phone messages and e-mail messages and mail messages and found several responses from people who wanted to come to our big meeting the following Friday. Since we were having a Board meeting that evening, I next had to prepare the agenda, including my report on our fundraising and programming activities. As a small organization, we are in a constant struggle to raise funds and a lot of my time is spent researching foundations and writing proposals. Oh yes, the mail had one or two checks for dues - hurray!

At that point the treasurer arrived at the office and I was glad to have the company. She usually stops by on Board meeting days to do the financial reports, so we talked about expenses and income for awhile. After she left I made copies for the meeting - you can see I wear many hats - and worked on our membership lists, which constantly need to be updated.

The big project of the week was a Program Meeting on Friday, which featured the Director of the NYS State Office for Aging. He would update us on the proposed NYS budget and how it would affect seniors; in addition we wanted to learn of progress on NY Connects in NYC, our one-stop-shop system for informing seniors and their families about long term care options in their locality. So I prepared a reminder flyer about the Meeting for my assistant to send out to all our constituents - the dozens of aging service agencies, advocacy organizations, academic institutions and just plain citizens interested in aging issues.

Before the Board meeting I met with our president to brief him on the agenda. At the meeting, we set up sub-committee meetings on Public Policy/Program and Development, which would need preparation and notification to members. The meeting was over at 7:30 p.m. I missed my train and got home at 9 p.m. A long day! Next day I went into the office later, spent a few hours briefing my assistant on the work for the week and was happy to hear we were getting a good response for our Friday meeting. Then I was off to the Manhattan Borowide Inter-agency Council on Aging meeting to hear a presentation by the head of the NYC Department for the Aging about their modernization plans. Luckily I took the subway home since a building collapsed next to the commuter railroad tracks in Harlem and the trains were offline, literally, for hours.

On Thursday, my assistant and I were busy with last minute preparations for Friday's big meeting, which I am happy to report was a success. Eighty people came to hear the state of the state budget as it affects older New Yorkers. It was overall good news in a budget deficit year and showed promise that the new director, a former advocate himself, was moving ahead with innovative ideas. We also had a presentation from one of our younger Board members on Enriched Social Adult Day Care, a program we have long fought for and which was in the governor's budget. However, seeing what has happened this week in New York with our governor, what will happen to the budget is anyone's guess. In New York, it's never a dull moment.