The first baby boomers will turn 60 in 2006 and new health initiatives are rapidly being developed to satisfy their quest for information.
Boomers, defined as those born between 1946 and 1964, represent the largest demographic group in the U.S. at over 77 million strong, or about 27 percent of the population, according to the US Census Bureau.
New programs to satisfy the boomers desire to push back the hands of time are being launched, in every category and every level from new travel packages, housing concepts, and fitness facilities to government, state and local level public service programs.
“When we first set out to promote “positive aging” back in the early 90’s, baby boomers were about to turn 50 and no one wanted to talk about getting old,” said Carolyn Worthington, co-editor of the book, Healthy Aging…Inspirational Letters from Americans, and president of CWI Productions, Inc., a Philadelphia area communications company, that trademarked Healthy Aging® and created The Healthy Aging® Campaign over 10 years ago.
“When we created the Healthy Aging® Campaign, we saw so much aging information out there that was unnecessarily negative. We saw the need to help dispel the myths of aging with solid information that would be useful to our aging population so they could age positively,” Worthington said.
“We recognized early on that careful attention to the combination of physical, social, mental and financial fitness was powerful in the pursuit of a positive lifestyle and have built our Healthy Aging® programs around that concept for the government and private sector through the development of September is Healthy Aging® Month, TV specials, videos, books, printed material etc.”
For 2006 and beyond, on a government level, there are two key developments impacting boomers: ; Medicare and the White House Conference on Aging. Medicare has just announced new Medicare prescription drug coverage, insurance that covers both brand-name and generic prescription drugs at participating pharmacies. ; ; The program offers a dizzying array of more than 40 plans. ; ;
Numerous groups are working on educating the public about this new program. Many boomers who are caring for their parents have to be sure their parents make the right choice – or suffer severe financial penalties. ; Link to the Medicare site is: ; http://www.medicare.gov/. ; The Department of Health & Human Services has a particularly helpful site, https://ssl2.benefitscheckup.org/before_you_start.cfm?partner_id=12&subset_id=14&preserve=true
During December, The White House Conference on Aging was held in Washington, DC. ; The conference is held once a decade to make aging policy recommendations to the President and Congress, and to generate ideas for the public about aging with dignity, independence, good health and economic security. ; How to service aging baby boomers heading to retirement was a key topic.
In the private sector four new websites or “webazines” will be launched in January, http://www.healthyagingfood.com/, http://www.healthyagingfitness.com/, http://www.healthyagingscience.com/ and http://www.healthyagingmoney.com/. ; The new webazines will be consumer oriented and will contain regular updates and an option for visitors to sign up for a subscription to receive monthly printed newsletters, cookbooklets, informational brochures, videos, etc.
According to Worthington, “People want a “silver bullet” to help them age successfully. ; Anyone who tells you there is one, in my opinion, has something to sell. ; A lot of what we need to do to age healthfully is just common sense. ;Our goal is to help people with the most accurate, easy to understand positive information about the aging process. ; We have helped health educators for years through The Healthy Aging® Campaign (http://www.healthyaging.net/) and now our sites and information will be directly targeted to the consumer who is starting to admit they are growing older and want help. ; We are currently developing public/private partnerships to further our initiatives during 2006 and beyond through platforms such as these specifically for the baby boom generation that hope to redefine the aging process.”
CONTACT: info@healthyaging.net
610 793 0979
Carolyn E. Worthington
President
CWI Productions, Inc.
PO Box 442
Unionville, PA ; 19382
610 793 0979
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