C. National Organizations and Companies Which May Affect Davis County Elders

    Many well known web sites for older Americans exist on the internet. As an example, the AARP web site, found at www.aarp.org, has a very large assortment of resources for aging which includes information to help seniors avoid frauds, understand government programs, taking care of their money, and health related issues.

     A few other important web sties for the older American are listed here:

     The Older Women’s League is found at: www.owl-national.org

     The National Osteoporosis Foundation is found at: www.nof.org

     The National Family Caregivers Association is found at: www.nfcacares.org

     The Alzheimer’s Association is found at: www.alz.org

     The National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys is found at: www.naela.org

     The National Caucus and Center on Black Aged, Inc is found at: www.ncba-aged.org

     The National Hispanic Council on Aging is found at: www.nhcos.org

     The Federal Government, in an attempt to help the senior citizens access resources, has created an important referral service online called the “Resources Directory for Older People by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.” This can be found on the Administration on Aging’s web page (www.aoa.gov). It has over 100 printed pages of national associations and organizations listed that older persons can turn to for information and help (with an average of 4 listed on each page).

     A web site called “IANet: The Interactive Aging Network” has also amassed a large number of online resources for the elderly. It has a table of contents showing the areas considered to be part of the aging network:

            1- Academic Institutions

            2- Advocacy

            3- Associations and Organizations

            4- Electronic Journals and Newsletters

            5- Employment

            6- Financial

            7- Government Information

            8- Health and wellness

            9- Housing

            10- Insurance

            11- Intergenerational

            12- Legal

            13- Life Style

            14- Personal Development

            15- Product/Service/Expertise

            16- Locator

            17- Research/Reference

            18- Spirituality/Religion

            19- Technology.

            (The Home Page of www.ianet.org)

    Some academic and business people have started collaborating on providing goods and services to the older American family. One such example is Janis Gray’s 1995 Generations article entitled “What the business community and the aging network can learn from each other” in which she suggests some initiatives “to improve or expand services for older adults (p.69).” In her conclusion, she states that the partnership of profit and nonprofit organizations within the aging network should have the following goals in mind:

1-     Promoting older adult independence.

2-     Fostering positive attitudes toward aging consistent with

      today’s changing society.  

3-     Enhancing the private sector’s understanding of the needs of the older consumer, and thus improving service and product development.

4-     Creating choices that are adequate, acceptable, preferable, and affordable.  (p. 71)

     In the last 10 to 15 years, new consulting businesses have been created to help the older adult with specific needs or very general needs. These cater to the non-poor elderly who wish to keep their affairs more private than they would be if they used government programs. Often called Geriatric Case Managers, these new professionals contract with specific older families to provide a vast array of services. They may be daily money managers, they may deal with medical personnel, they may take care of all of the family’s affairs or they may only contract to do one or two specific things. This new type of business is filling a niche for the adult children who live too far away from their older parents to give daily care themselves.