FEATURE STORY MAY 2015 - 40TH ANNUAL OKLAHOMA CONFERENCE ON AGING

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Lance Robertson
Director, Aging Services

Lance Robertson: We're very excited to be celebrating our 40th anniversary of the statewide Aging Conference. Of course, every year we get to gather in May, which happens to be Older Americans Month, and really just focus in on what's important to older Oklahomans, what's happening. We bring in some great speakers. We talk about trends, services, and really it's an opportunity to do a number of things.

I think it helps create exposure for all the programming work that's happening out there. It certainly allows us to build stronger collaborations and meet other partners within the aging network. I know for a lot of our seniors who attend, which turns out to be about half of our participants, for them it's an opportunity to take away some materials that if even they themselves can't use, really it's valuable information for them to take back to their local community because inevitably somebody's going to need that information.

So, again it's a great opportunity once we even part ways for information to spread throughout Oklahoma about what's happening and where people can get assistance.

Zach Root
Aging Services, Interim Community Relations Director

Zach Root: We've selected partners from all over the aging network, which is extensive and across the state. We have folks from Life Senior Services in Tulsa that have helped out immensely. OHAI, which is the Oklahoma Healthy Aging Initiative, they're a large sponsor as well as Life, AARP, all of our Area Agencies on Aging, folks from the mental health side of the network, just too many to name really. But, they're all coming together.

This is really just a seminal conference and event for the state and for the aging network of Oklahoma.

Paula Cockrell
Oklahoma Healthy Aging Initiative Wellness Expo Coordinator, OUHSC

Paula Cockrell: The Oklahoma Healthy Aging Initiative is a proud sponsor of the conference. We have helped to support them with financial contribution, but also with our time and our efforts helped to bring them information that maybe they didn't have and to combine.

OHAI is spread out across the state. We have centers, right now three, five by the end of the year. So, we have resources in all areas of the state. We can help them to bring more people to the conference.

Lance Robertson: There are some similarities between Senior Day, which is the first day, that Tuesday, and the other two days, which are Professional Days, but really I think there is a distinctive difference in how we target the breakout sessions. 

The keynote addresses are obviously geared more towards the working professional or the aging network professional who is out there delivering services; whereas on Tuesday for the older adults it's really focused on service recipients and those that can take the information that we give them back to the local community.

Cindy Busby
Accountant, Aging Services

Cindy Busby: Our theme for the conference is "Celebrate, Discover and Embrace." We're celebrating the past, which would be similar to somebody like Jane Jayroe. We're discovering the things that are out there now, and we're embracing the future.

Having these panelists out there giving the seniors that are in the audience an opportunity to embrace what they can do. What this gentleman did at 84 years old, running a marathon in each state, and how encouraging that can be to someone who is just having some minor difficulty, walking issues or needs some encouragement to take their medicine, or "If I just got a little bit better, I could do this, or "Maybe if I just started walking around the block every day." You know, we get seniors from all walks of life. They come to the conference; we see them in their wheelchairs; we see them in scooters; we see them with walkers. These people have given encouragement to them to where they can look forward to doing something in the future.

Lance Robertson: I think of a couple of things that have happened at the conference that our really exciting. Both involve of course, our two keynote speakers that we brought in, Kerry Hannon who is a national expert on jobs. Really what we're seeing too are people, of course having to work longer, and that's a relatively new issue to be explored, discussed, wrestled with because I think for most people ideologically you end up thinking, "I'm retired by 60." But, in reality for most Americans and most Oklahomans, you're not going to be retiring that young. So, Kerry Hannon was able to come and give us ideas and some thoughts on how you really successfully utilize those active years of your life and launch into a productive and valuable retirement. We do have a lot of people who retired too prematurely. What happens then is there is an enormous gap between when they initially retire and when they have to re-enter the workforce. Then, job skills have slipped, and financial planning becomes challenging. I think Kerry Hannon's advice is outstanding to really prepare all of us for the reality of what lies ahead when it comes to working. 

We're really excited to bring in our top Federal person, Assistant Secretary for Aging, Kathy Greenlee. This was her second trip to Oklahoma, and she of course, really focused this trip on the full roll-out of our Aging and Disability Resource Consortium. It's kind of a technical term, technical name for a very large initiative that really is focused on making sure that people have access to the information that they need when it comes to services. So, we're really proud in Oklahoma. We were of course, grateful to have her here, but we're proud of what we've done now with our initiative. It's kind of a national model now, as far as making Oklahomans much more comfortable in knowing where to turn to when they need services. 

Of course, this effort reflects a large, large number of partners and state agencies, community partners and providers who have all gathered with us to make all of this information available. Of course, at the conference we showcased the portal which is electronic, the website version of how people can gain access to that information 24/7. Naturally we also have physical sites that people can go in and have that same infomation provided to them. And obviously we have telephony options as well. 

Paula Cockrell: I think that with the topics that were presented that there was a wide variety of again services, programs, of new research, they also were given a chance to see the little mini sessions in the Wellness Expo for different programs that are available. So that they didn't spend an entire hour learning about something, they were just little 15 minute sessions and they were able to pick up several different programs during that time.

Lance Robertson: The most exciting thing about this year's theme was being able to really intentionally celebrate getting older. I think again, so often in our society people are unsure how to respond to that personally, or in a vocation. Sometimes people have a stereotype or image of what it's like to work in the aging network, but at this conference we were able to actually again, really showcase what's awesome about getting older. We actually highlighted a panel of older adults who have accomplished tremendous things at an age where most of us presume that you're just kind of sitting on the couch, or getting by day in and day out, and these people are running circles around us in terms of their activity and their accomplishments in a much later stage of life.

Then certainly, when it comes to the poetry and some of the art things that are happening, the creative side of getting older really can also manifest itself, and we try to showcase that too. By design, everything that was associated with the conference was all geared towards really recognizing and celebrating what beauty lies within getting older.

Zach Root: We sent out notices that we're accepting poems from all across Oklahoma. This year I think we had about 120 submissions, well over a hundred almost equally split between the men and the women. There were some fantastic poems. I mean, they'll bring a tear to your eye, or make you laugh, or whatnot. We asked some of our partners to provide a judge, and we judged the poems, and we picked out three top winners from each category.

Paula Cockrell: I think that the conference has helped to empower seniors. It's helped to give them information and resources that they didn't have. It's also empowered the professionals to help their clients by giving them the same information and resources, and education that they otherwise wouldn't have been able to obtain. 

Lance Robertson: For those that have ever done event-planning work, particularly for a conference for 2,200 people, you really can appreciate what goes into it. I am just so deeply thankful to so many people who have volunteered a lot of hours and have really helped us make sure that "t's are crossed and i's are dotted." What's outstanding is when you go to a very good conference, it's only a really good conference when people have put all that effort into it, and it feels seamless as an attendee.

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