2008 Woodie Awards
Baby boomers get older
JOSLYN SALOW
News Writer
Issue date: 3/5/07 Section: News
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Careers in aging multiply
The Center for the Study of Aging at Boise State hosted a panel discussion and mixer Feb. 28 in the Student Union Lookout Room. This event was geared toward informing students, professionals and educators about how the aging population will affect their career options.
About 70 people attended to hear professionals from a variety of businesses and organizations speak about opportunities in their fields for careers in aging. After the panel discussion, guests asked questions and visited booths to obtain more information about their field of interest. The mixer gave students the opportunity to make connections for future job opportunities and professionals the opportunity to network with one another for future collaboration.
Those 65 years and older make up the fastest-growing segment of the population, affecting almost every aspect of the job market and the economy. Because of this, six of the fastest growing professions are either in or related to the field of aging; the need for long-term care workers will more than double over the next 20 years.
The panel discussion consisted of five speakers, including Bill Drake, CEO and president of es/drake, a PR and marketing business; Lori Watts, medical social worker at St. Alphonsus Cancer Care Center; Pete Sisson, Certified Elder Law Attorney at Sisson & Sisson, the Elder and Disability Law Firm; Karla Brown, vice president of the Idaho Occupational Therapy Association; and Jim Wordelman, Idaho State director of AARP.
Drake spoke about different aspects of marketing for the mature audience, its needs and interests as well as how this affects the jobs in marketing.
He ended his speech with the memorable, “The beauty of this market is that every seven seconds somebody turns 50.”
Watts provided the audience with her ideas on what kinds of things are important to older people.
She also gave an overview of what her job entails and what she provides for elderly clients, and commented on the work that she is most passionate about - her work with low-income, older patients.
“I hate seeing so many situations where older folks are having to choose - do I go get a prescription or do I go buy groceries this week?” Watts said.
Sisson commented on his efforts to improve the quality of life for elderly people in Idaho in regard to chronic care issues, financial and legal decision-making.
“What we do with my law firm is create a relationship with our clients where we follow them…as they change, as they age, as their chronic care issues develop we are there supporting them,” Sisson said.
Brown spoke about several qualities of life that the aging population values, including maintaining physical and mental wellness, adaptation and adjustment to changes, leisure and social connection, security and safety.
Wordleman discussed the services that the AARP provides and the concerns that the aging have for the future.
Annette Totten, director of the Center for the Study of Aging, emphasized that this discussion was aimed at opening up career options in aging for many fields, not just in health care.
“Yes, we will need more health care workers, but with the baby boomers beginning to turn 60 in 2006 and the number of people over 65 more than doubling between 2000 and 2030, there will be many opportunities related to aging ... As people live longer there will be exciting opportunities in everything from engineering (think about how we are redesigning pens, cars and houses to make them easier to use as we age) to journalism, to service professionals,” Totten said.
Totten mentioned the opportunities offered at BSU in the field of aging.
“There is an undergraduate minor in aging and a graduate certificate in gerontology (the study of aging) at Boise State University. Students often ask me what they can do with this minor or certificate. Hopefully this event gave students some ideas of the possibilities and we hope to host additional events about career opportunities in the future,” Totten said.
Dan Sigler, research assistant for the Center for the Study of Aging, commented on why expertise in this field is important for the future.
“We have talked to real estate companies, advertising companies, gyms, engineers and numerous other types of organizations who are all preparing new programs specifically marketed to the aging population. They will need employees who understand aging-related issues to start, run and grow these programs,” Sigler said.
Mary Hall-Smith, community relations director for Willow Park Assisted Living, has already had success hiring BSU students. She said that BSU students are always ambitious, easy to train and work on their feet.
“We think it is important to have a balance when working with seniors, to have youth in the building that provide a different point of view,” Hall-Smith said.
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