The Truth About Growing Old(er) in America

Clayre Breslin-Heaslip brings facts mixed with compassion in this well-documented book about the aging of America that is now taking place and explores questions such as: Are older adults in America receiving inferior and inadequate medical care? Are they the recipients of ageistic attitudes... demeaned, disrespected and often ridiculed? Are they lonely, ignored by the churches they helped build, and are the divorce laws creating increased poverty for this booming generation? She provocatively explores how greed and fraud and the escalating government bureaucracy negatively impact many of the programs and services that were designed to benefit older adults, and calls upon the Baby Boomers to return to the activism of past generations... re-establish community, teach the younger generations how the diversity in the older population can enrich our lives. Ms. Breslin-Heaslip does not speculate about these issues, but provides the reader with case studies and facts obtained from years as a geriatric psychotherapist and University professor teaching "Aging Social Policy." She believes that American's must return to a place of respect and kindness to care for this burgeoning population and that the integrity of any country is evidenced by how their older population is esteemed. She states, "Aging is not a disease, and sick-old is not one word. The extent to which all individuals in our great American society encourage its older citizens to participate in the mainstream of life is one of the measures of the way a society measures its morality."

Clayre Breslin-Heaslip brings facts mixed with compassion in this well-documented book about the aging of America that is now taking place and explores questions such as: Are older adults in America receiving inferior and inadequate medical care? Are they the recipients of ageistic attitudes... demeaned, disrespected and often ridiculed? Are they lonely, ignored by the churches they helped build, and are the divorce laws creating increased poverty for this booming generation? She provocatively explores how greed and fraud and the escalating government bureaucracy negatively impact many of the programs and services that were designed to benefit older adults, and calls upon the Baby Boomers to return to the activism of past generations... re-establish community, teach the younger generations how the diversity in the older population can enrich our lives. Ms. Breslin-Heaslip does not speculate about these issues, but provides the reader with case studies and facts obtained from years as a geriatric psychotherapist and University professor teaching "Aging Social Policy." She believes that American's must return to a place of respect and kindness to care for this burgeoning population and that the integrity of any country is evidenced by how their older population is esteemed. She states, "Aging is not a disease, and sick-old is not one word. The extent to which all individuals in our great American society encourage its older citizens to participate in the mainstream of life is one of the measures of the way a society measures its morality."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Clayre Breslin-Heaslip is a retired Medicare/Medicaid certified geriatric psychotherapist with an extensive medical background and as an Associate Professor at Arizona State University taught Aging Social Policy to graduate students. It was this experience of preparing class content, combined with her gero-psychotherapeutic profession, that first prompted Clayre to begin the documentation that would eventually lead to the manuscript for this book. Humorously labeling herself as a "professional student", Clayre earned 2 Master degrees and a Ph.D. from Universities in California and New York with a concentration in Aging Studies, and holds several certificates in alternative health protocols. She's had a protracted career in the medical/mental health/ administrative milieus, and was actively involved in the establishment of in-patient and out-patient psychiatric programs/facilities and now, as a retired "older adult" joyfully fills her days with artistic endeavors, painting, making greeting cards and writing books. This is her third book with another one in progress. It has long been Clayre's conviction that governmental bureaucracy... the administrative and overhead costs... usurps the money necessary for programs to succeed, and says, "We must learn how to help those in need without the governmental bureaucracies helping themselves, and invest in proper training for those working and interfacing with older adults."