Older Americans Month

By Dr. Marciene Mattleman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The federal Administration on Aging works to ensure that older Americans can stay independent in their communities and provides discretionary grants to research organizations and projects. Senior nutrition programs like Meals on Wheels are funded.

When Senior Citizens Month was established in 1963 by John F. Kennedy, 17 million Americans had reached their 65th birthdays. Now called Older Americans Month, statistics show that by 2030 twice that number will comprise 19% of the population.

People are living longer today, with wonderful stories of those still enjoying life in their 90s and well beyond. My favorite appeared in the Broad Street Review by Dan Rottenberg, journalist and author, about his 97-year-old father, who in his 40s gave up a lucrative business to spread folk dancing throughout the world.
On recent visits, Dan would encourage him to get out of bed, by playing Penn's marching band music, which Dad played as a student. It worked; he marched.