The way Greg Olsen sees it, the growth of an aging population is not the problem.
How society has organized the “caring economy” is the problem.
“We focus all our energy and money on the back end,” said Olsen, the acting director for the state Office for the Aging. “We do very little on the front end in the community, where we know that’s where people need the supports.”
That is why University at Buffalo researchers are perfecting ways to help people live longer, healthier and more meaningful lives, work that got a shot in the arm last week when the school announced it will pump $4 million into those efforts.
Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday laid the groundwork for a New York Master Plan for Aging that will foster more collaboration and innovation to support the health and well-being of older state residents and their loved ones.
The funding announcement came as Olsen helped lead a UB Aging Research Symposium designed to energize the process and share more details about the first New York State Master Plan for Aging now taking shape.
New Yorkers 50 and older make up “a population devalued for a very long time,” Olsen said, even though older state residents give more than all other age groups to charity, volunteer more of their time and account…
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