CDC_HQ_300p Photo by James Gathany, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

All of us at the John A. Hartford Foundation have a deep appreciation and respect for the work that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) do to safeguard the health of our nation and promote healthy aging.

So when I received an invitation from John Auerbach, the CDC’s associate director for policy, to come to Atlanta for a day of discussion about possible opportunities for the John A. Hartford Foundation and the CDC to collaborate on efforts to improve the care of older adults, I enthusiastically said yes.

During that visit, I had the privilege of meeting with leaders from five centers within the CDC, and the names of the centers alone help illustrate the scope and depth of the CDC’s work on behalf of public health:

I also met with members in the Office of the Associate Director for Policy, as well as leaders of the Program Performance and Evaluation Office. I am deeply grateful to Associate Director Auerbach for all he did to make such a rich and instructive visit possible.

Our discussions focused on ways we might synergistically work with each other and build upon one another’s expertise to advance our nation’s health, especially as it relates to older adults. Throughout the day, I was struck by how much the missions of the John A. Hartford Foundation and the CDC have in common.

CDC-Logo_300pFor example, the three “Strategic Directions” the CDC has adopted for its work closely align with our Foundation’s efforts:

  • Improve health security
  • Better prevent the leading causes of illness, injury, disability, and death
  • Strengthen pubic health-health care collaboration

And our Foundation also largely shares the CDC mandate to focus on areas that are amenable to risk reduction; early detection; clinical preventive services; and collaboration between public health and health care.

In the afternoon, I was given the opportunity to present on the John A. Hartford Foundation, and I started by sharing the history of the Foundation and its founders, John A. and George L. Hartford, before discussing the more than three decades of investment—$451 million in all—that the John A. Hartford Foundation has made in the field of aging and health.

I talked about our strategic approach to grantmaking focused on improving care for older adults, and the John A. Hartford Foundation Change AGEnts Initiative as an example of how we are bringing together interdisciplinary teams of health care professionals, scholars, and health systems leaders to accelerate sustained practice change.

I also explored the topic of the day—collaboration—looking at elder abuse as an exemplar of how we might work together. As many of you know, I have made elder abuse the focus of my research throughout my career, and I remain passionately committed to working to eradicate this scourge from society.

The decades of work the John A. Hartford Foundation has invested in improving care for older adults uniquely positions us to play a key role at a time when real momentum is gathering around the topic of elder justice, as Senior Program Officer Nora OBrien-Suric recently observed on Health AGEnda. In July, it was my privilege to attend the White House Conference on Aging, which chose elder justice as one of four national priorities, along with retirement security, healthy aging, and long-term services and supports. I also had the opportunity to participate in the White House’s Elder Justice Forum in June that examined how best to address and prevent elder abuse and financial exploitation.

Elder justice is an area where the interests and expertise of the John A. Hartford Foundation not only align with the White House Conference on Aging, but also, I believe, with the CDC. One in 10 older adults is the victim of abuse. Research shows that elder abuse is underreported, poorly understood, and often even tolerated when it is observed by others.

The sad case of the late philanthropist Brooke Astor helps to show the human toll elder abuse exacts. After Mrs. Astor was stricken by Alzheimer’s disease, her son, Anthony D. Marshall, and lawyer, Francis X. Morrissey Jr., were found guilty on charges that they swindled millions of dollars from her by inducing her to change her will several times before she died. Clearly, nobody is exempt from the tragedy of elder abuse.

I’m sure there are other areas where partnership between the John A. Hartford Foundation and the CDC will allow us to capitalize on our mutual knowledge and experience. I was immensely gratified by the enthusiasm for collaboration shown by everyone I met at the CDC, and was very impressed by their knowledge of the Foundation and the important contributions it has made in aging and health.

The discussions we had last week at CDC were just the beginning. We will continue to move forward with additional dialogue to identify those areas where collaboration makes sense for both organizations, areas where—in the words of John A. Hartford—the Foundation that bears his name can make its “best contribution.”