of older workers. During FY 1976 13,000 men and women were denied jobs, fired or otherwise discriminated against because of their age. "Almost $4 million in lost wages was restored to age discrimination victims during the year. And we estimate that, as a result of this enforcement, employers opened more than 34,000 new jobs to workers aged 40 through 64," he said. But, he noted, two-thirds of all private suits initiated by individuals under the act are thrown out of court because of legal technicalities.

To rectify this situation, Mr. Brown said that Secretary of Labor Marshall has asked the Congress for two amendments to the ADEA which would make it easier for individuals to file their own suits and facilitate the Department's enforcement by providing more effective conciliation of age discrimination complaints.

He also noted that the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act is not being used to its full potential in meeting the needs of older workers.

"During fiscal 1976, CETA programs served 86,800 persons 55 and older with job training and retraining, public service jobs, and related forms of assistance. But these older men and women represented a mere 3.5% of all workers served," he said. Part of the problem stems from the fact that many older workers have despaired of obtaining employment. What is needed, Mr. Brown said, is a strong outreach effort by prime sponsors to alert older workers to the CETA program.

A third program needing improvement and expansion, he noted, is the Title IX Senior Community Service Employment Program of the Older Americans Act. Under this program $56 million has been used to provide

full and part-time jobs for 15,000 workers 55 and over. Beginning in July total funding will be raised to $91 million and the number of jobs increased to 22,600.

Mr. Brown predicted that in the future not only the employment picture would brighten for older workers, but conditions would improve for retirees as well. In discussing the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, Mr. Brown said that the Labor Department now has 1,000 compliance investigations underway and that the Department has filed a number of court suits against pension and welfare plans which abused or inadequately protected the interests of participants.

Sam Brown, Director of ACTION, also pointed out the need to provide career opportunities for the Nation's elderly. Mr. Brown noted that there are now 14,000 older Americans serving in 182 Foster Grandparent programs and 205,000 RSVP volunteers serving in 680 projects. The newest of ACTION's older Americans programs, Senior Companions, "serves the dual purpose of helping low-income elderly have meaningful roles in society by helping impaired and isolated adults to live independently or to live more satisfying lives within institutions," he said. There are now 48 projects operating in 38 States and Puerto Rico.

"The provision of services by communities and by Senior Companiontype volunteers could enable millions to remain in their own homes or delay institutionalization. Since unnecessary institutionalization is one of the major costs of gerontological care, the saving in cost to the individual and his family could be substantial,” he said.

Mr. Brown concluded by saying,

"With the changes which have occurred in American social and family life during the last generation, volunteer programs have begun to play a more important part in the lives of the elderly. Elderly Americans have benefitted from them in a number of social, material, and emotional ways.

"Too often when we think of growing old, we emphasize the old. It is time we shift our emphasis to the growing."

Happy Hour Lives
Up To Its Name In
Boston Experiment

Psychology Today recently reported on an experiment in a Boston residence and nursing home for the elderly. The program entailed daily cocktail parties at the home conducted by psychologists to find out if moderate drinking was beneficial.

For the first nine weeks of the experiment, psychologists working with the staff set up daily cocktail parties. There were two types of parties, one served non-alcoholic beverages while the other served cocktails. The parties were set up to differentiate between the possible benefits of social drinking vs. social gathering. No more than two drinks were allowed each day.

The researchers measured each person's physical, functional, mental and emotional states before the experiment and after the first and second nine week period. The parties serving cocktails were, it was found, superior to the social gatherings.

Initial results showed some breakthrough at ending the isolation syndrome. The people involved felt friendlier toward each other, and slept more soundly. Results found after the second nine week period were even more positive and greater

in scope.

After the second period, the residents spoke to each other more frequently as friends. They also became more active physically and started to show greater initiative than before the experiment. The atmosphere at the home became more positive.

There were also clinical results from the experiments. Pulse rates were lowered, which the psychologists felt showed better cardiac function.

At the end of the program the parties were terminated. However, residents demanded that they be resumed on a permanent basis and drew up petitions which they presented to the director of the facility. He was so impressed and the results had been so satisfactory it was decided to continue the parties on a permanent basis.

New President of AGS Elected

Frederick G. Dorsey, MD, of Houston, Texas, was installed as President of the American Geriatrics Society at the 34th Annual Meeting held in San Francisco, on April 13. He succeeds William Wellman, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., who was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors for the year 1977-1978.

A Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine, he is associated with the Diagnostic Clinic of Houston and serves as a Consultant in Internal Medicine (Geriatrics) at the Texas Institute of Rehabilitation and Research.

Arlington, Va.
Schoolhouse Becomes
Center for Elderly

A vacated schoolhouse has been converted into Virginia's first Stateoperated facility to serve frail older persons on full-time basis.

The James Madison Elementary School, now the Madison Activities Center for Frail Older Adults, also houses one of the county's recreation centers.

Dr. Helen Hackman, director of the Arlington County Department of Human Resources, conceived the idea of a full-time center for older adults four years ago. She said the school, which was closed in 1974, is an ideal site for the center and offers excellent facilities.

Dr. Hackman, who also serves as director of the center, said a $45,000 outlay provided by the Virginia Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation was used to renovate portions of the school. A $10,000 grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development was used to enlarge doorways to accommodate handicapped persons in

wheelchairs.

The center, open Monday through Friday, provides a wide variety of activities for participants. Recreational equipment is also available in a nearby building.

A full-time staff at the center includes a nursing supervisor, registered nurse, social worker, mental health worker, custodians, bus drivers, and three geriatric aides. One meal is provided under the Title VII nutrition program.

Nursing care, medication, occupational, and physical therapy are available to county residents who pay a fee of $15.50 a day plus $3 for bus fare to and from the center. Non-resi

dents are charged $17.50 per day.

Although there is a fulltime staff, Dr. Hackman said, "We are heavily dependent on volunteers and need all the help we can get."

There are now 33 enrollees in the program, which is designed to accommodate 60, according to Dr. Hackman. "I believe this program has given these persons a new lease on life. They need something useful to do," she said.

Further information is available from the volunteer coordinator, Paul Fitzgerald, Arlington County Department of Human Resources, 1800 N. Edison St., Arlington, Va. 22207.

California Seniors
Receive Assistance
For Their Pets

Senior citizens are now entitled to special services offered by the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society in choosing and caring for their pets.

Current adoption programs are being expanded to include financial assistance for seniors whose pets need medical attention, spaying or neutering, and food, according to Paul Hurych, Society Executive Director. Mr. Hurych said Bay Area senior citizens, 65 or older, may apply by mail or in person for free Senior Membership cards at the Society's Adoption Center, 2700 Ninth St. Berkeley.

The service is provided by the Humane Society so that persons on limited incomes may have the enjoyment and companionship of a pet.

The Society's Adoption Center is open weekdays from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Saturdays 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.; and closed Sundays. Additional information may be obtained by calling 845-7735.

Corporation, AoA Sign Pact Aimed at Legal Needs of Aged

The Legal Service Corporation and

the Administration on Aging have entered into an agreement designed to benefit the nation's elderly poor through increased coordination between the two organizations at the national, State, and local levels.

The Legal Services Corporation is a private, non-profit organization established by Congress in 1974 to provide financial support for legal assistance to the poor in civil matters.

The agreement was signed by Arthur S. Flemming, AoA Commissioner, and Corporation President Thomas Ehrlish. It takes note of the increasing need for legal services among elderly persons as well as the unique problems associated with their age and relative lack of mobility.

"Because local legal services programs, in their efforts to deliver services to the elderly, confront particular problems of outreach, education, and transportation, and because the aging network is particularly suited to alleviating such problems, cooperation at the local level can lead to expanded services to the elderly," the agreement states. "In many communities, where lack of funding limits local legal services programs to the general practice of law, the availability of resources under the Older Americans Act can make possible specialized services for the elderly. The participation of local legal services program personnel in the activities of the aging network, including education of older persons about their legal problems and training and technical assistance to network personnel working with older persons,

can increase access to legal services for the elderly."

The document has four broad objectives:

• To expand awareness by legal personnel of the legal concerns and problems of older persons.

• To increase understanding by elderly persons of their legal rights. • To increase the number of legal personnel trained to serve the elderly.

• To improve the access of older persons to existing legal services and to increase the number of communities in which such services are available.

Each organization agrees to take specified measures to achieve these objectives.

Copies of the agreement may be obtained by writing the Corporation's Office of Public Affairs, 733 Fifteenth St., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20005.

Study Indicates Growth
Of Private Pensions
Faces Problems

According to a new economic study, continued inflation, stricter government regulations, and the projected expansion of social security will make the growth of private pension programs more difficult.

"The Future of Private Pension Plans," by Norman B. Ture and Barbara A. Fields, analyzes demographic, institutional, and economic influences on the growth of private retirement plans and considers the prospects for the future.

The study describes the past growth of these plans as "one of the

most dramatic economic phenomena of twentieth-century America." Among the influences have been a relatively high ratio of working age groups to total population in the period since World War II, tax provisions favoring this type of saving, the effects of wage controls in World War II and the Korean War, and the emphasis on pension benefits in collective bargaining.

As a result of these institutional and economic influences, the number of workers covered has grown from 4 million in 1940 to 33 million in 1973. Coverage now extends to about half of private nonfarm employment. In 1973, benefits totalling $11.2 billion were paid to 6.1 million annuitants.

Although the history of private pension plans "is one of successful adaptation to changing conditions," the authors conclude that major changes now occuring in the economy and in government regulation will be much less favorable than in the past. The growth of the working age population will slow in the next few decades and the social security system will continue to expand with possible adverse effects on the growth of private pensions. The pension reform act of 1974 (ERISA) has also raised the costs of such plans generally, even though it has broadened tax incentives for retirement savings. through individual retirement plans, the study says.

"The Future of Private Pension Plans," published by the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, Washington, D.C., was sponsored by the American Council of Life Insurance.

Dr. Ture is president of an economic consulting firm in Washington, D.C., and Mrs. Fields is an economist.

It is pretty safe to say there is not

a problem related to aging that the Cardinal Ritter Institute has not heard about, or tried to do something about. Since 1961 that pervading determination has led the infant organization down a path from giving limited social service to administering 16 highly specialized and active programs. In 15 years' time, C.R.I. has become the one resource in the St. Louis community where most of the problems of aging can find some kind of resolution. Government funding, insurance, private income, and Medicare make it economically possible. Determination and vision make it work.

The Institute itself had its beginning in 1961 as the Department of Aging of the St. Louis Catholic Charities, with a staff of three and a budget of $3,000. In 1966 it separated and

Jaclyn Meyer

Public Relations Coordinator

became an autonomous member of the Catholic Charities federation, taking the name of St. Louis' innovative Cardinal, Joseph E. Ritter. Its avowed goal: Creative Care for the Older Person. "Care . . . with flair."

The agency's first significant thrust into the community came as a result of government experimental monies used to explore the practicality of giving health care in the home. Now long since independent of experimental funding, home health care is the Institute's largest single operation, serving some 900 people monthly. The program offers skilled health care for the chronically ill and elderly in their own homes. Services include nursing; physical, occupational, and speech therapy; medical social services; home health aides; and medical equipment.

Having determined not to stop

with home health care, Cardinal Ritter Institute began looking for ways to solve more of the unmet needs of the elderly in the community. As a result, today the agency is a beehive of programs, each directed toward alleviating some problem of aginghealth, housing, income, relationships, personal adjustment, and so on. The scope of the effort is staggering; the operation surprisingly efficient.

The programs presently administered by the Institute are information, counseling, and referral; social casework; friendly visitor; institutional consultation; home health service; Foster Grandparents; Blumeyer Village Senior Center; nursing home/ housing placement; Phone-A-Friend; Parish Aide; Senior Aide; Retired Senior Volunteer Program; Santa Ana Apartments; public housing management; Alverne Activities Program;

and San Luis Apartments.

Once C.R.I. began dealing with the social and psychological problems of the aging and its sister dilemma, physical deterioration, there arose. the need to make the community aware of the services and how to use them. Working out that problem became an agency program in itself: information, counseling, and referral. This service receives, identifies, and channels all referrals that come through telephone or office interview. From the variety of calls for help came the variety of programs Cardinal Ritter Institute now offers.

For example, when home health care is not the solution, institutions must be found to meet the person's needs. Through two of its programs, institutional consultation and nursing home/housing placement,

special

consideration can be given and meaningful recommendations made. The Institute handles all admissions for several Catholic nursing homes and works with other resources such as boarding homes, proprietary nursing homes, and apartments, when other types of placement are indicated. Through a program of institutional consultation it strives to improve the institutional life of the elderly and chronically ill by helping the management with plans and programs.

Numerous calls come from people no longer able to do their own housework, or who need someone to sit with a sick person. From this grew the Parish Aide Program, which serves as a central filing system. It matches up willing part-time paid workers in a given neighborhood with people in the same neighborhood who need in-home help.

In order to help retired well people looking for new ways to be useful or increase their monetary resources, the Institute, in addition to sponsoring

the Parish Aide Program, administers Senior Aides, a program funded by the Department of Labor, which provides part-time employment for lowincome, elderly people in 12 different community agencies.

The Institute also directs the recruiting and employment of Foster Grandparents. More than 83 older people work in six children's institutions, giving their time and personal interest to youngsters who need it. To help alleviate the problem of loneliness and just plain boredom, C.R.I. initiated some volunteer programs suited to the capabilities of a variety of generous older people. Friendly Visitors are trained volunteers, usually from a given neighborhood, who make regular personal visits to the aged and chronically ill. The Friendly Visitor calls on the housebound individual, perhaps to shop for him, drive him to the doctor, or to read to or visit with him. Phone-A-Friend allows the older, less ambulatory vol

unteer to make himself useful by calling the lonely, sick, or anxious person who lives alone and needs reassurance. R.S.V.P., Retired Senior Volunteer Program, allows older people to volunteer in the community, and if necessary provides transportation and meals while on assignment, so that the cost of doing good work doesn't prevent them from doing it.

One of the most frequent requests funneled through In-Take at Cardinal Ritter Institute is from older people, both singles and couples, who need to relocate because a home is too big, incomes are too small, or because the person wants to be near other people, transportation, or needed. services. At the same time there are calls from existing housing projects asking for help in management of their recreational, educational, and cultural programs.

As an answer to both problems, Cardinal Ritter Institute has literally gone into the business of building and