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Signing of Silver Alert with Nevada Governor Sandoval

From left to right: Sen. Anderson, Forum members,June Burton, Herb Randall, Lucy Peres, Ruth Hart, Ray Jones, Sen. Parks

2011 ANNUAL SESSION REPORT

The 14th Annual Session of the National Silver Haired Congress was held at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center, Alexandria, VA, Thursday–Tuesday, February 10–15, 2011. The Session began with a Board meeting at 6:30 PM, Thursday, February 10 and concluded with a breakfast business meeting, Tuesday, February 15. The Sine Die Handkerchief was dropped by the oldest member attending, Silver Senator Keith Bray, KS.

Delegates from Oregon to Virginia, Montana to Louisiana and points in between attended this Legislative Session. The major emphasis of the meeting was to identify and prioritize the top five (5) issues confronting America's older citizens.
Following the National Silver Haired Congress's resolution process including lengthy debate and review, the following Five Resolutions will be presented to the US Congress and the President as input for legislation and/or policy action.

  1. Implement National Silver Alert Notification Network for Missing Elderly Citizens
  2. Support increase in funding for the Older Americans Act commensurate with inflation and population increase of older Americans
  3. Shift Funding to Home & Community-based Services from institutional care
  4. Mandate prosecution and restitution for Crimes Against Senior Citizens
  5. Convert Senate Special Committee on Aging to Senate Standing Committee on Aging, and
  6. Build Bipartisan consensus to correct Social Security solvency and reject privatization (These last two were tied for 5th place ranking)
The number one issue, to establish a National Silver Alert Notification Network, has a bill, H.R. 112, already filed in the House and is in need of a sponsor for a companion bill in the Senate. This topic was addressed in the 111th Congress with H.R.632 which passed the House without objection, but was stalled in the Senate.

Friday night, February 11, Bob Blancato, Advisory Council Chair, brought the group up to date on many issues that are currently before Congress including the Top Three as determined by polls: 1) Jobs, 2) Health Care, and 3) the Deficit. He indicated that there are no "sacred cows" as far as the cuts in spending are concerned which means that funding for OAA, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and other programs are in jeopardy.

Saturday morning, an Advocacy Workshop was presented by Deanna Gelak, author of The Power of Personal Persuasion and a best-practices book, Lobbying and Advocacy. She has conducted hundreds of training meetings on advocacy policy and practices for grassroots groups, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Veterans Affairs Department, the leadership of the American Bar Association, and the National Press Foundation. She represented the United States as the only representative from the US to the International Advocacy Conference in Bucharest, Romania.

Saturday evening, a presentation by Dr. Alana Knudson, Co-Director of the Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis, National Opinion Research Center (NORC) gave much good information on the health of seniors and the increasing population of seniors. This increase is causing concern, especially in rural areas, because of lack of health care professionals with any geriatric training.

Recognition of states occurred on Monday, February 14. Five states (Illinois, Kansas, Nevada, Virginia, and West Virginia) decorated tables with information and photos representing their state pride. Plaques were awarded to the first, second, and third place winners.

The National Silver Haired Congress is a non-partisan, non-profit, grassroots organization of older Americans (age 60+) recognized and encouraged by a Joint Resolution of the US Congress in 1994. The National Silver Haired Congress is similar in organization (maximum of 100 senators and 435 representatives) and employs procedures comparable to those used by the US Congress. The National Silver Haired Congress provides information from seniors across the country to the Congress to help inform them of the common needs of seniors across the country.
 
Call for Aging Issues or Concerns

If you have a question for NSHC or you have an aging issue or concern to share with us, please use the box below to contact NSHC. Please limit your question or comment to 250 words. NSHC is an advocate for older Americans. We do not provide funds for services, but we may be able to answer your questions and respond to your concerns.

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NSHC Vision, Mission and Goals

VISION: To be an effective, non-partisan and independent national grassroots organization helping America’s seniors improve their independence and quality of life,
through education and advocacy

MISSION: To provide an educational opportunity and advocacy forum for older Americans to make recommendations on federal aging priorities and legislation to the US

GOALS:

Membership: To establish delegations in at least 35 states; to have paid membership of minimum of 225

Finance: To develop 2-year self-sustaining financial plan and budget

Communications: To use and promote website, quarterly newsletter, and news releases; to make contact with every member of US Congress

Advocacy: To form an advocacy team to focus, educate and train entire organization on implementing NSHC’s Number One Resolution

Administration: To evaluate organization and policies; to identify major strengths/problems by member survey; to take action to reach goals and develop strategic plan