Reading our 2008 Annual Report, A Call for Leadership in Aging, one paragraph jumped out at me. It’s on page 24, the first paragraph under “Answering the Call”:
The next time you say to yourself, “Why don’t they do something about that?” look in the mirror. Ask the person you see, “Why don’t you do something about that?” By accepting the challenge to lead, you come to realize that the only limits are those you place on yourself.
Answering the call is one of four pillars of a quality leadership program. The other three are formal training, mentoring, and peer networking.
The message that each of us can make a difference resonated with me from an early age. Every Sunday afternoon, in my formative years, I would accompany my Dad to pick up my grandmother at the end of her shift as an LPN in a nursing home. My grandmother would always bring me around to visit with all the residents who seemed lonely. That experience motivated me to “do something” that would change the way our country treats older people.
My first formal steps to putting “answer the call” into action started in my junior year at St. Michael’s College in Vermont. When I began to look into other schools that might offer courses in aging, I found that only one school in the country had a master’s level program in gerontology: the Ethel Percy Andrus Center at the University of Southern California. I planned to get my master’s degree there. But in the meantime, I was anxious to obtain as much experience and education in aging as possible. So I cobbled together my own gerontology program. I took the only two gerontology courses offered at a nearby college, received course credit working as an intern at the Burlington Area Agency on Aging, and earned credits for gerontology tutoring sessions with the assistant dean, who had worked at an Area Agency on Aging in Nebraska. I also volunteered at a local nursing home. I loved all of it, and as a result my senior year was incredibly fulfilling.
Two weeks after graduation I moved to southern California with some savings and a small scholarship offered by the Ethel Percy Andrus Center. When I could no longer afford USC, I enrolled at the newly developed gerontology program at the California State University at Dominguez Hills. I worked at two hospitals as a social worker and discharge planner while attending classes in the evening. In two years I received my MA in Gerontology, thus finally achieving step two in what has turned out to be a very rewarding career in gerontology.
Looking back, I am proud of how I created my own experience and education to fit my career goals—but it was certainly a complicated way to answer the call to serve older adults. Today with the help of The John A. Hartford Foundation, young people interested in a career in aging do not have to cobble together their own curriculum and education. For example, we provide grants to the Council on Social Work Education to encourage schools of social work to develop curriculums and offer specialization in gerontology. Our Partnership Program for Aging Education, administrated by the New York Academy of Medicine, enables MSW students to obtain field experience in aging services. And professors specializing in gerontological social work—a rare breed during my studies—are becoming more common thanks to grants provided to the Gerontological Society of America. Our faculty and doctoral scholars programs are helping to increase the number of faculty experienced in gerontology who, as role models and mentors, inspire and guide students. You can read the stories of two scholars, Michelle Putnam and Sandra Owens-Kane, in our annual report.
The John A. Hartford Foundation is making it easier for those who want to “answer the call” to focus a career in aging. Our goal is to provide everyone eager to become a leader in the field of aging—social workers, doctors, and nurses--with opportunities to succeed.