Image of nurses' hands at computer keyboard

Aging services over the next decade should be looking at redefining age, improving practices, innovating solutions and transforming policy, the leader of a top senior care association declared in April. 

“We have outdated beliefs about aging — that it’s a peak and decline,” said LeadingAge President and CEO Larry Minnix, speaking at the LeadingAge Illinois conference. “What is the authentic story?”

Minnix reminded the crowd that dual-eligibles and the elderly poor and sick are costing the most. Up to 70% of families will face caring for an elderly relative or child with a disability, he added.

Ultimately, those in a residential setting “want to know: ‘Has my life been worthwhile?’”

A person wants “to face my maker and say, ‘I did the best I could,’” Minnix explained.

Nonprofit long-term care businesses have an obligation to be a guardian of values, meet the needs of a community, be a creator of capital and “be ‘the voice,’” he said. 

Minnix, who is retiring at the end of 2015, received a standing ovation upon concluding his remarks.