I was honored to be appointed by Congressman Mike Thompson as a delegate to the White House Conference on Aging in December. California had the largest delegation - 124 appointed by the governor, members of the 109th Congress, the National Conference of American Indians and national aging allied organizations with a stake in the aging of America.

In Northern California, the San Francisco Bay Area was well represented; however, moving further north, there were only a representative from Sebastopol and myself. This was a small representation for the "real" northern California and for older Californians living in rural areas. A total of 1,200 delegates attended the conference.

These conferences are held every 10 years; this was the fifth and the first in the 21st century. The theme was "The Booming Dynamics of Aging: From Awareness to Action." This theme reflects the mandate to focus on the aging of today and tomorrow.

There are 78 million baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 who started turning 60 Jan. l. In our nation every 7.25 seconds, 11,000 per day for the next 18 years, a baby boomer will become 60. This significant change in our country's demographics demands that we act now to responsibly and thoughtfully shape aging policies and programs for the future.

Six major issues were addressed: Planning Along the Lifespan, The Workforce of the Future, Our Community, Health and Long-Term Living, Civic and Social Engagement and Technology and Innovation in an Emerging Senior/Boomer Marketplace. There were 73 policy resolutions.

The first challenge was to narrow these down to 50 by voting and then meet by states to determine the top ten priorities out of these 50. My personal top priorities were Designs for Senior Centers of the Future and Care in Rural Areas, which unfortunately did not make the "top ten" for California.

On the third day we met in sub-groups to develop implementation strategies for the top priorities. Interestingly, Social Security privatization and Medicare Part D prescription drugs were not addressed in the resolutions presented.

Past criticisms of the conference have been that while all the issues and concerns were well-defined, not a lot happened as a result. It was stressed that this conference was designed to produce some tangible results and meaningful actions across the spectrum of federal, state and local governments.

I was in awe of the experience brought to this conference by the delegates. All ages were represented with considerable diversity, and most of these were involved in top leadership roles in the fields of aging. I had an opportunity to see my friend Sandi Fitzpatrick (formerly the Area 1 Agency on Aging executive director in Eureka) who is now executive director of the California Commission on Aging in Sacramento. She was responsible for coordinating the California delegation.

We hoped that the conference would be opened by President Bush - and we were cleared by security for that event. However, we were disappointed that the president was unable to attend.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me - I have always loved Washington, D.C.; I am challenged to envision the future; and I am a senior committed to supporting the seniors in our rural communities.