The Challenge

California’s over-65 population is going to double in the next 25 years. The need for senior healthcare that includes all the things that contribute to a senior’s health – good food, safe housing, and access to care providers – is a growing need among California’s aging population.

The time to start building the infrastructure and strengthening the safety net is now! And yet we are all experiencing funding cuts and dwindling resources to provide these vital services to Bay Area seniors.

Forum Members

In 2009, led by Bay Area PACE organizations, a group of Bay Area safety net providers came together to find creative ideas to strengthen the senior safety net. The Senior Health Policy Forum was then launched in order to encourage more providers, advocates and policy makers to collaborate around senior health policy and build common ground.

As a starting point, we hosted the first one-day forum in Oakland in November 2009, which brought together over 200 individuals from various senior health organizations. Our hope is to have these forums on a regular basis throughout the Bay Area to encourage collaboration across city and county lines.

Our Vision and Goals

Our vision is to forge and strengthen relationships across programs and geography and find a common voice as Bay Area senior safety net providers and advocates. Our shared goal is:

To Inspire, Exchange, Educate, and Engage Advocates, Providers, Policymakers, and Other Stakeholders in Our Effort to Strengthen the Safety Net for Bay Area Seniors. 

Collectively, we can strengthen the health safety net that more and more seniors are going to need in the coming years. Together we are stronger. Together we can affect change.

-  Bob Edmondson, President and CEO, On Lok Lifeways and Peter Szutu, President and CEO, Center for Elders’ Independence