2016 OREGON

CONFERENCE

October 12, 2016Oregon State University CH2M Hill Alumni Center 725 SW 26th St., Corvallis, OR 97331

Presented by the Governor’s Commission on Senior Services

from Governor’s Commission on Senior Services

Welcome

October 12, 2016

Thank you for joining the Governor’s Commission on Senior Services at the Oregon Conference on Aging. We are delighted to continue

the conversation and push forward the recommendations that came out of the Oregon White House Conference on Aging that

took place in May 2015.

We have once again collaborated with Samaritan Health and the Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs to host the conference and advocate for issues related to elder justice, long-term services and supports, healthy aging, and retirement security. In this renewed effort, we welcome our new partner, Oregon State University’s Center for Healthy Aging Research and the OSU School of Public Policy.

We are all dedicated to serving Oregon’s older adults. In the spirit of intergenerational collaboration, we look forward to working together to make our Oregon livable for all with

healthy communities and healthy aging.

Thank you to all our sponsors, both financial and in-kind, that helped make this conference a success.

Judy Strand, Chair Governor’s Commission on Senior Services

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Time Activity

9:00–10:00 a.m. Continental breakfast and registration check-in

10:00–10:05 a.m.Welcome address: Carolyn Aldwin, PhD, Oregon State University Center for Healthy Aging Research

10:05–10:10 a.m.Welcome address: Judy Strand and Nancy Pierce, Governor’s Commission on Senior Services

10:10–10:15 a.m. Ashley Carson-Cottingham, Oregon Department of Human Services Aging and People with Disabilities Director

10:15–10:30 a.m.Keynote introduction: Cameron Smith, Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs Director

10:30–11:00 a.m. Keynote address: Joe Gallegos, State Representative

11:00 a.m.–noon

Session 1: Elder justice

Chuck Riley, State Senator

Fred Steele, Long-term Care Ombudsman

Ellen Klem, Department of Justice

Theressa Hollis, Guardian Partners

Dave Toler, Oregon Cascades West Council of Governments

Noon–1:00 p.m.

Session 2: Long-term services and supports

Philipp Kneis, PhD, Oregon State University School of Public Policy

Kristi Murphy and Margaret Davidson, Aging and Disability Resource Connection of Oregon

Ruth McEwen, Governor’s Commission on Senior Services

Agenda

Time Activity

Noon–1:00 p.m

Session 2: Long-term services and supports

Paula Carder, PhD, Portland State University Institute on Aging

David Gomberg, State Representative

1:00–2:00p.m. Lunch

1:15–1:25 p.m.Lunch acknowledgment: Suzette Boydston, Samaritan Health and Governor’s Commission on Senior Services

2:00–3:00 p.m.

Session 3: Healthy aging

Judy Strand

Carolyn Aldwin, PhD, Oregon State University Center for Healthy Aging Research

Maureen Nash, MD, Providence ElderPlace Oregon

Jon Bartholomew, AARP

Elaine Friesen-Strang, Elders in Action and Governor’s Commission on Senior Services

Sara Gelser, State Senator

3:00–4:00 p.m.

Session 4: Retirement security

Paul Krissel

Juanita Santana, Oregon Retirement Savings Board

David Rothwell, PhD, Oregon State University

Robynn Pease, PhD, Oregon State University

4:00–4:15 p.m. Break

4:15–5:00 p.m.Debrief/summation: Ann McQueen, PhD, Oregon Department of Human Services Aging and People with Disabilities

Carolyn Aldwin, PhD, is a professor in the Oregon State University (OSU) Department of Human Development and Family Sciences. She received her doctorate in adult development and aging from the University of California at San Francisco and was a post-doctoral scholar at UC Irvine. Previously she was a

professor at the University of California Davis. Aldwin studies how psychosocial factors affect health, especially in later life,

authoring more than 90 articles and chapters, and has authored or edited three books on stress, coping, health and optimal aging.

Aldwin developed an age-appropriate stress measure that assesses events more likely to occur in middle and late life. She found the number of major stressors shows little or no age-related decline. However, older adults are still less likely to report daily stressors than middle-aged or younger adults. Older adults conserve resources by expending less energy, using fewer strategies but still handling problems just as effectively as younger adults. More recent research focused on appraisal.

Aldwin’s research indicates that people learn to cope with stress throughout life, and the extent to which they can derive positive meaning from facing stressors may be more important for their well-being than simple exposure to stress.

Jon Bartholomew is the AARP Oregon government relations director. Prior to this position, he was the public policy director at the Oregon Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, where he coordinated the State Plan for Alzheimer’s Disease in Oregon. Bartholomew has worked for 18 years on public policy issues

ranging from after-school program funding to media reform. Originally from Pennsylvania, he earned his master’s degree in

public administration at the University of Washington.

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Speaker bios

Speaker bios

Suzette Boydston directs the Senior Companion Program at Samaritan Health Services. She is also the incoming chair of the Governor’s Commission on Senior Services. Boydston has worked internationally in South America and the Middle East and is now using her skills and experience to help Oregon’s older

adults age safely in place.

Paula Carder, PhD, is a professor with the Oregon Health & Science University/Portland State University School of Public Health and the Institute on Aging. She researches community-based residential care settings, dementia care and subsidized housing for low-income seniors. Carder has published more

than 25 articles and book chapters and one book on these topics. She teaches national long-term care policy, health and

housing, and graduate research methods.

Ashley Carson Cottingham, Oregon Department of Human Services Aging and People with Disabilities (APD) director, has a wealth of advocacy and program experience related to older adults and people with disabilities. As director, she oversees the APD program’s operations and policy. Prior to working for

the state, Carson Cottingham worked as the staff director for the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging.

Most notably, her team led reauthorization efforts around the Older Americans Act. Carson Cottingham worked for the Senate Special Committee on Aging on preventing elder abuse and strengthening retirement security. She also held positions in two national nonprofits – as executive director of the Older Women’s League and as director of policy and advocacy for Compassion & Choices, an organization dedicated to improving care and expanding choice at the end of life. Carson Cottingham is a graduate of the University of Oregon and Vermont Law School.

Margaret Davidson has worked in community services for more than 30 years in a number of capacities at Community Connection of Northeast Oregon, a four-county, private nonprofit corporation. For the past 19 years she has been the executive director. Community Connection of Northeast Oregon

is an Area Agency on Aging (AAA), an Aging and Disability Resource Connection (ADRC), a community action agency, a

HUD-certified housing counseling agency, a public and special needs transportation provider and a regional food bank. Under Davidson’s leadership, this rural organization has grown to a staff of more than 100 employees who provide essential human services and promote self-sufficiency.

Elaine Friesen-Strang’s professional career was in social services. She was a state director for a guardianship program for the last 20 years. Since retiring, Friesen-Strang has advocated for livable communities and the needs of older adults. She currently serves on the Elders in Action Commission, the Governor’s

Commission on Senior Services, and other Multnomah County committees ranging from transportation to emergency planning. In

June Friesen-Strang was appointed volunteer president for AARP Oregon.

State Rep. Joe Gallegos’s family was among first Mexican-American families to settle in Portland after World War II. He spent his youth doing migrant farm work with his family up and down the Willamette Valley. From 18 to 28 years of age, he worked in the shipyards and served the military in Vietnam.

Gallegos attended night school at Portland Community College and Portland State University, where he received a bachelor’s

degree in psychology with a certificate in social work. He attained a master of social work degree and followed with a doctorate from the

State Sen. Sara Gelser has served in the Oregon Legislature since 2005. She was elected to the Oregon State Senate in 2015 after serving in the Oregon House for nine years. Gelser chairs the Senate Human Services and Early Childhood Committee and co-chairs the Oregon Women’s Health and Wellness Alliance.

She also serves on the Senate Education Committee, the Senate Workforce Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Among her many appointments and accomplishments, Gelser was a founding member of the Oregon Senior and Disability Caucus. In 2010, President Obama appointed her to the National Council on Disability, with unanimous consent from the U.S. Senate.

Gelser served on the Corvallis School Board from 2001 until August 2006. She was the children with disabilities and family support coordinator for the Oregon Department of Human Services and a parent educator for Linn-Benton Community College and the Oregon Parent Training and Information Center. Gelser is the founder of the FG Syndrome Family Alliance, a nonprofit organization serving families and medical professionals around the world touched by this unusual syndrome.

Gelser earned her bachelor’s degree in history and education from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, and a master’s degree from Oregon State University. She lives in Corvallis with her family.

University of Denver. One of his post-doctoral fellowships was with the Gerontological Society of America. By 1988, Gallegos returned home to teach at the University of Portland and established the Social Work Program that was accredited in 2006. His research career included several publications and national and international presentations related to aging and diversity.

Upon retiring as professor emeritus, Gallegos was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives in 2012. He sponsored several successful bills promoting the welfare of communities of color and/or low-income citizens. Gallegos serves on the Human Service and Housing Committee and is vice-chair of the Higher Education and Workforce Development committees.

Speaker bios

State Rep. David Gomberg was first elected to the Oregon House of Representatives in 2012. He represents District 10, which runs from Yachats to Tillamook along the coast, and inland as far as Sheridan and Falls City.

Gomberg graduated from Oregon State University where he served as student body president and earned a master’s degree in

economics, history and political science. He then earned a master of business administration degree from Willamette University and worked

two sessions in the Oregon Legislature. Later, he served as an administrative law judge for the Department of Motor Vehicles before moving to the coast to become executive director of the Lincoln City Chamber of Commerce. Together with his wife, Susan, Gomberg now owns and operates Gomberg Kite Productions, International, a top designer and manufacturer of specialty kites and banners. The Gombergs are in the Guinness Book of World Records for owning the world’s largest kite.

In the 2015 legislature, Gomberg will serve as a member of the Joint Ways and Means Committee and co-chair the Ways and Means Transportation and Economic Development Subcommittee. He will sit on the Ways and Means Agriculture and Natural Resources Subcommittee, and serve on the House Rural Communities, Land Use, and Water Committee. In addition, he is a member of the Small Business Task Force and the Governor’s Commission on Senior Services. Gomberg’s legislative efforts have focused on small business tax relief, reviving our public education system, and ensuring independence and dignity for seniors and the disabled.

Theressa Hollis, JD, is a partner with Fitzwater Meyer Hollis & Marmion, LLP, one of Oregon’s largest elder law firms. She has practiced elder law for 18 years in the Portland area. Hollis’s practice emphasizes legal issues unique to the elderly and their families, including guardianship and conservatorship cases, probate

estates, trust administration, and estate planning. She specializes in emergency (“temporary”) guardianships and conservatorships.

Hollis is a founding member and current president of the Board of Guardian Partners. This local nonprofit’s mission is to help the court protect vulnerable Oregonians by using trained and supervised volunteers to teach newly appointed fiduciaries and monitor guardianship proceedings to reduce the potential for abuse, neglect and exploitation.

Ellen Klem is the director of consumer education and outreach for the Oregon Department of Justice. Her mission is simple – prevent financial harm to Oregonians, especially older adults, Oregonians whose first language is not English and students who have significant education debt. Before joining the

Oregon Department of Justice, Klem worked at the American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging in Washington,

D.C., where she was responsible for research, policy development, advocacy, education and training. Klem received her bachelor’s degree from James Madison College at Michigan State University and a law degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

Philipp Kneis, PhD, is assistant director of the Public Policy Graduate Program at Oregon State University. One of his research areas is humanistic gerontology, which investigates social and cultural aspects of aging and the roles of older people in society. Kneis is currently researching how administrative

efforts aimed at assisting aging populations can be improved by incorporating the needs and visions of the target populations.

Speaker bios

Paul Krissel is an independent organization development consultant. He started practicing in 2006.

Krissel began his professional career as a vocational rehabilitation counselor in Pennsylvania in 1971. He was elected president and CEO of a union representing 20,000 social

service employees in government and nonprofit organizations throughout Pennsylvania. Krissel also served as founding trustee of

the Pennsylvania Employees Benefit Trust Fund, a labor management health fund serving more than 300,000 people.

In Oregon, Krissel directed a union of classified school employees before serving on the western region staff of the AFL-CIO. He served as a founding board member of the Northwest Health Foundation and succeeded Senator Mark Hatfield as the board chair.

Krissel has served as a board member for many nonprofit agencies and is currently active with Causa (Oregon’s Latino immigrant rights organization) and the Salem Keizer NAACP. He previously served as a member of the Governor’s Commission on Senior Services.

Ruth McEwen has been a fierce advocate of people with disabilities for 40 years. She has dedicated numerous hours to ensure that Oregonians get the long-term services and supports they need, always focusing on independence, dignity and choice. McKwen has assisted Oregon Department of Human

Services, Northwest Senior and Disability Services, the Centers for Independent Living, and the Oregon Disability Commission as an

advocate for changes and improvements. She continues her role on the Governor’s Commission on Senior Services. McEwen also holds a master’s degree in counseling from Western Oregon University.

Kristi Murphy is currently an Aging and Disability Resource Connection program analyst with the State Unit on Aging in Salem. Prior to joining the State Unit on Aging, Murphy worked at Oregon Cascades West and Area Agency on Aging as a program manager. In 2010 she joined the State Unit

on Aging and worked with a team to develop and roll out ADRCs in Oregon. Murphy holds a bachelor of science degree in

communication from the University of Oregon.

Maureen Nash, MD, is the medical director of Providence ElderPlace Oregon, an all-inclusive care program for the elderly in five Oregon counties. A fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American Psychiatric Association, board certified in both internal medicine and psychiatry, she is active

statewide and nationally including the State Plan for Alzheimer’s Disease in Oregon (SPADO) and other workgroups on issues

involving older adults. Nash speaks locally and nationally on issues related to dementia, chronic mental illness and end-of-life care. Nash earned her medical degree in 1997 at the University of Kansas. She completed residency at Dartmouth where she also served as chief resident. Prior to joining Providence ElderPlace, Nash was the medical director at the Tuality Center for Geriatric Psychiatry, a regional referral hospital for older adults.

Ann McQueen, PhD, currently manages the Safety, Oversight, and Quality Unit within the Department of Human Services Aging and People with Disabilities (APD) Program. McQueen has a bachelor in fine arts degree in musical theater, a master’s degree in communication studies, and a doctorate in urban studies

with a focus in gerontology. She has spoken at many state and national conferences on topics related to aging and older adults,

and she is thrilled to be a part of this terrific event.

Speaker bios

Robynn M. Pease, PhD, has more than 20 years’ experience in the field of work-life with a special focus in aging services. As the director of the Office of Work-Life at Oregon State University, she partnered with numerous groups to establish an eldercare support group for the campus community and

co-chaired the Task Force for Children, Youth and Family. Prior to her arrival at OSU, Pease served as the director of Work-Life at

the University of Kentucky, where her areas of interest included elder care, employee retirement planning and implementation of flexible work arrangements. She worked closely with the University of Kentucky Institute for Workplace Innovation on various employee engagement initiatives, such as strategies for addressing the challenges of an aging workforce. Additional professional experience includes program administrator for the Lexington-Fayette Urban-County Government Office of Aging Services and projects director for the Nursing Home Ombudsman Agency of the Bluegrass in Lexington, Kentucky. Pease has a doctorate in sociology from the University of Kentucky with an emphasis in gerontology. She is an honorary member of the National Gerontology Academic Honor and Professional Society, a member of the Oregon Gerontological Association and a certified long-term care ombudsman in Oregon and Kentucky.

Nancy Pierce has been involved in issues of concern to senior citizens since taking a politics of aging undergraduate class in 1975. She worked for former U.S. Rep. Jim Weaver and U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio in constituent casework and on legislative issues related to Social Security, Medicare, Health Care, federal

retirees, and retirement and income concerns. Pierce has been on the Governor’s Commission for Senior Services since 2012.

State Sen. Chuck Riley represents District 15, serving Hillsboro, Forest Grove, Cornelius and North Plains. He is an Air Force veteran and retired small business owner. Riley represented House District 29 for three terms before being elected as a senator. Riley currently serves as chair of

the newly formed General Government and Accountability Committee and is co-chair of the Joint Committee on Information

Management and Technology. He also sits on the Senate Business and Transportation Committee, the Senate Finance and Revenue Committee, the Joint Committee on Audits, and the Joint Committee on Tax Credits. Riley is passionate about ensuring Oregon’s senior citizens are treated with dignity and have access to critical services. As such, he serves on the Governor’s Commission on Senior Services. Senator Riley worked with Detective Smith of the Forest Grove Police Department to pass the senior financial abuse bill.

David Rothwell, PhD, studies poverty, families and social policy. He is an assistant professor at the Oregon State University College of Public Health and Human Sciences. Rothwell received his doctorate in social welfare from the University of Hawai’i. Rothwell practiced as a social worker in mental health and community economic development. Prior to joining the College

of Public Health and Human Sciences, he was an associate professor in the School of Social Work at McGill University in Montreal.

Speaker bios

Juanita Santana retired as the executive director of the San Francisco State University Head Start/Early Head Start programs. She is currently a member of Oregon AARP’s Diversity Advisory Committee and a Governor’s appointee to the Oregon Retirement Savings Plan. Santana is actively involved in advocacy

efforts in financial security, covering issues such as Social Security, retirement and fraud prevention. She was the executive

director of the Oregon Child Development Coalition for 14 years and presently works as a consultant conducting federal grants reviews. Santana holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in business administration. Santana is a National Head Start fellow and a UCLA Head Start/Johnson & Johnson fellow.

She has a daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren.

Cameron Smith directs the Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs. Previously, he was Governor John Kitzhaber’s senior policy advisor; his portfolio of issues included military, veterans’ affairs and emergency management. Smith also served Governor Ted Kulongoski as a senior policy advisor for public

safety. Prior to joining the Governor’s staff, Smith was a captain in the United States Marine Corps, completing three tours of duty

in Iraq. A graduate of Carleton College, Smith holds a bachelor’s degree in history. He is originally from Boston but happily lives in Portland, where he continues to root for the Red Sox.

Judy Strand, LCSW, is the CEO of Metropolitan Family Service (MFS), a Portland nonprofit. MFS’s mission is to help people move beyond the limitations of poverty, inequity and isolation. With a client base that spans all ages, MFS draws the strength of those who are 50 and older to meet the vast unmet needs of

youth who live in low resourced communities. Using “Experience Corps,” an evidence-based model, youth gain literacy skills and

adults gain greater health and well-being. In addition, MFS supports more than 1,200 older and/or disabled adults living independently in the community by providing transportation and personalized support in dealing with challenges of health and daily living. Strand spent 20 years building geriatric mental health delivery systems through public-nonprofit partnerships at Mt. Hood Community Mental Health Center up until 2012 when she joined the MFS team. As chair of the Governor’s Commission for Senior Services, Strand has advocated for an “asset” lens on aging: finding avenues for full inclusion of all ages into our vision for a healthy and vital community.

Dave Toler was born into a U.S. Army home at Ft. Rucker, Alabama. Toler has lived in Oregon for more than 30 years. Most of that time, he lived in Southern Oregon raising two children in the Illinois Valley.

Toler has invested the last 20 years in nonprofit and local government leadership including at-risk youth programs, private

and public schools, and environmental education. In 2012, he became Senior and Disability Services director for the Rogue Valley

Council of Governments. In January 2016, Toler began leading Cascades West Council of Governments’ Senior and Disability Services for the Linn, Benton, and Lincoln County region.

Toler has been a yoga enthusiast for more than 20 years and loves hiking Oregon’s mountains, rivers and beaches.

Speaker bios

Topic Date and time

Welcome address and keynote

Oct. 20, 2016 at 7:00 p.m.Oct. 24, 2016 at noonOct. 26, 2016 at 5:00 p.m.Nov. 5, 2016 at 3:00 p.m.

Elder justice

Oct. 20, 2016 at 8:00 p.m.Oct. 23, 2016 at noonOct. 24, 2016 at 1:00p.m.Nov. 5, 2016 at 4:00 p.m.

Long-term sevices and supports

Oct. 23, 2016 at 1:00 p.m.Oct. 24, 2016 at 2:00 p.m.Oct. 28, 2016 at 8:00 a.m.Nov. 5, 2016 at 5:00 p.m.

Healthy aging

Oct. 23, 2016 at 2:00 p.m.Oct. 24, 2016 at 3:00 p.m.Oct. 29, 2016 at 8:00 a.m.Nov. 6, 2016 at 7:00 p.m.

Retirement security

Oct. 22, 2016 at 5:00 p.m.Oct. 24, 2016 at 4:00 p.m.Oct. 30, 2016 at 8:00 a.m.Nov. 6, 2016 at 8:00 p.m.

CCTV rebroadcast schedule

The Oregon Conference on Aging is grateful to:

Our host sponsor Our keynote sponsor

Sponsor list

• AARP

• Capital Community Television

• Guardian Partners

• Medicaid Long-Term Care and Quality Reimbursement Advisory Council (MLTCQRAC)

• Oregon Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association

• Oregon Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services Advisory Committee (ODHHSAC)

• Oregon Disabilities Commission (ODC)

• Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs

• Oregon Gerontological Association

• Oregon Home Care Commission

• Oregon State University Center for Healthy Aging Research

• Oregon State University Family and Community Health Extension

• Oregon State University School of Public Policy

• Portland State University Institute on Aging

• Samaritan Health Services

• Stoneybrook Assisted Living

Thank yous

Notes

This document can be provided upon request in an alternate format for individuals with disabilities or in a language other than English for people with limited English skills. To request this publication in another format or language, contact DHS-Aging and People with Disabilities Advocacy and Development, 503-947-5019 or Rebecca.E.Arce@state.or.us 711 for TTY}.

DHS 0611B (10/2016)