MEDIA RELEASE
Contact: Dave Baldridge
Executive Director
(505) 239-4793
AARP Releases New IA2 Report on Indian Elders
Albuquerque, N.M., Nov. 24, 2015– A new report on the well-being of older American Indian and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) was released today by the Public Policy Institute of the American Association for Retired Persons (AARP). Prepared by the International Association for Indigenous Aging (IA2), the report examines the lifelong socio-economic and health disparities experienced by many of the nations 5.2 million Indians.
According to a blog by Debra Whitman, AARPs chief public policy officer, Policymakers have much to do to address long-standing socioeconomic and health coverage disparities that have historically characterized their lives and which remain, to a large extent, unresolved. This new research presents some compelling ideas to move forward. The blog is featured at http://blog.aarp.org/2015/11/24/taking-a-closer-look-at-aging-american-indians-and-alaska-natives/.
The report, Lifelong Disparities Among Older American Indians and Alaska Natives, highlights an enormous demographic shift resulting in nearly four of every five Indians now residing in urban areas rather than on reservations, where many services for them are still targeted. Its recommendations include the need for broader strategies, including inter-agency cooperation to bring needed services to Indians living in Americas cities and other non-tribal communities.
We congratulate AARP for publishing this report during Native American Heritage Month, said IA2 board president William F. Benson. Hopefully it will help us more fully understand the needs of Native elders. Their value to Indian Country is immeasurable.
IA2s website, https://iasquared.org/aarp-ia2-report-on-native-elders/, provides access to the full report and the AARP In-Brief version.
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