Dr. Takamura, who heads the Administration on Aging, will discuss national strategies to ensure that appropriate care, support and delivery services for older persons will be in place when needed and will remain relevant in the decades ahead. The Assistant Secretary will also take part in a public forum with family caregivers to hear first-hand of their personal experiences coping with the daily burdens and stresses of caring for their loved ones who are chronically ill or have disabilities. She will explain the Administration's proposed National Family Caregiver Support Program and the opportunities it presents for serving family caregivers of older Americans.
Families are the major providers of long term care in the United States.
The program represents a first step in the creation of a national long-term care policy and is part of the Administration's proposal to reauthorize the Older Americans Act. Thousands of Iowa's older citizens and their families benefit from supportive home and community-based services created through the Older Americans Act.