On a recent cross-country trek, Robyn Stone discovered that finding and working with a range of new partners can actually be a lot of fun.
I spend a lot of time on the road and, for the more part, I love it.
Frankly, it’s a lot of fun to spend time educating, learning from, and brainstorming with colleagues and LeadingAge members around the country who are as passionate as I am about issues affecting older adults.
And when an overloaded travel schedule brings me to multiple meetings, in multiple cities and time zones, over the course of a week, I’m often blown away by the trends that emerge.
That’s exactly what happened to me at the end of March.
Over the course of 10 days, I traveled to Philadelphia, Las Vegas, and San Francisco to participate in 3 meetings that appeared, at first glance, to focus on disparate topics: affordable housing, long-term care insurance, and the current political climate.
Did I say disparate? By the time I returned home, I had no doubts that all 3 meetings had actually focused on the same topic: partnerships.
That topic didn’t appear on the official agendas of any meeting. But no one I encountered on my cross-country trek could talk about anything else.
HOUSING PARTNERSHIPS
First stop, Philadelphia. Participants in the “Summit on Providing Affordable Housing to Older Adults with Lower Incomes” were challenged to create a consensus about what safe and affordable housing for older adults with low incomes should look like, and how we can make that vision a reality.
Admittedly, it was a daunting assignment for a 1-day summit. But we made great progress, mostly because we quickly started thinking outside the box.
Instead of talking about building new housing for Philadelphia’s growing population of elders living in poverty, we talked about ways to preserve the city’s existing homes, many of which are already owned and occupied by older adults living on fixed incomes. We talked about bringing local stakeholders together to do home modification and renovation. We talked about using the city’s housing stock as a platform for service delivery and community building.
I was pleasantly surprised by the scope of our discussion. But I was most impressed by the scope of our participant list. The Philadelphia Corporation for Aging, the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania, and the TRECS Institute had invited a diverse group of 45 leaders, who came to the University of Pennsylvania from a range of sectors and with a range of interesting perspectives and ideas. At the table were:
- Housing providers and developers;
- Health plans serving older adults who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid;
- Banks and community investment organizations;
- Government agencies at the city, state, and federal level;
- Researchers;
- Affordable housing and consumer advocates;
- Urban planners and architects; and
- Community-based service providers.
It was amazing to see these leaders engage so energetically in devising new solutions to a long-standing challenge, while acknowledging that each had a role to play in making those solutions a reality.
The lesson for me: Talking about real solutions with stakeholders from different sectors can be invigorating. We all need to do more of it.
INSURANCE PARTNERSHIPS
As my plane touched down in Las Vegas, I wondered why I had been asked to discuss workforce issues with an audience of insurance actuaries, product developers, and brokers at the Annual Intercompany Long-Term Care Insurance Conference.
Frankly, I wasn’t expecting to see too many people in my session. But I was wrong.
It turns out that the people who develop long-term care insurance products are very interested in the workforce that provides the care their customers receive. These insurance professionals recognize that the predicted shortages of qualified workers—especially direct care workers—will directly affect their industry, and the ability of their customers to access the quality care they need and for which they’ve paid premiums.
Insurers also seemed receptive to my suggestion that they find a way to become part of workforce solutions, possibly by designing insurance products that offer incentives to consumers who hire well-qualified workers, or by joining providers of long-term services and supports in advocating for public policies that strengthen the workforce.
The lesson for me: You can find meaningful partners in the most unexpected places, so it’s best not to write anyone off.
POLICY PARTNERSHIPS
During my final stop in San Francisco, I discussed “The Politics of Aging” at the annual conference of the American Society on Aging (ASA). My presentation highlighted the fact that our nation is ill-prepared to support the growing population of elders who are struggling to make ends meet, often without the help of public subsidies for which many don’t qualify.
How do we support these elders, given the current political climate that seems more inclined to cut subsidies than to increase them?
I didn’t have an answer to that question. But still buoyed by the collaborative spirit I witnessed in Philadelphia and Las Vegas, I offered my ASA colleagues some hopeful news: We might find support for these efforts in the private sector, as long as we can convince new partners that there’s a strong business case for their engagement.
The lesson for me: It’s painful to admit that government funding may not be sufficient to meet the growing need for supportive housing, qualified caregivers, and financial security among older adults. But there’s no reason to lose hope.
CONNECTING THE DOTS
I learned many lessons during my March travels, but 3 simple ones stand out.
First, we need new partners, from a range of sectors, to help us carry out our work.
Second, those partners are often right in front of us, hiding in plain sight.
And third, tapping into the creativity of those partners, and forging new paths together, could actually be a lot of fun.
Robyn I. Stone, DrPH, is senior vice president of research at LeadingAge, and co-director of the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston. Her widely published work addresses long-term care policy and quality, chronic care for people with disabilities, the aging services workforce, affordable senior housing, and family caregiving.