European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 29, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A photo of. Michael Contd a Toft and Charow Roger took or Al Quaco be company directory Oft dirty rv/c9. American companies begin to show concern for the elderly by Marybeth Nibley associated press a widowed Mother of live finds it Lough locate Tor her frail elderly parents while holding Down a full time Job. But she  s had Days Whan the needs of an 83-year-old father and 94-year-old Mother made it impossible Lor her to go to the office. Like the Day aha had to Lake her Mother la the doctor to gel her artificial leg by the Tima i got through with what we had to do. I had had it " recalls Theresa Lequin an accounting clerk in the Tewksbury mass. Office of Wang laboratories inc. 1 just could t go in to work. Some Days Are bad and my Molhar does t even know who i  stories of How people Lequin Cope with competing demands on their Tima Are common in the american workplace. Many companies have been providing Day care services for employees with Young children or allow parents to arrange flexible schedules. Now some companies a taking an interest in employees who care of wee been trying to Send out to everyone keys Cynthia Taeuber a census Bureau demographer who specializes in analysing the older a in growing older begins a report done by the us Senate special committee on aging ins Aon with the american association of belied Pasow the Federal Council on the fall nil and the cd ministration on aging. One of the most Doni Franl demographic facts affecting America s present and future course is the aging of its  the population of americans aged 65 and older grow twice As fast As the rest of the population in the last two decades according to the report. The biggest bulge will come when those born in the baby Boom years of 1946-1964 Start to reach 65. Taeuber notes. The group of people b5 years of age and older is expected to increase seven times by the Middle of the next Century the report says. There will be an estimated 16 million americans 85 years old and up by 2050 and probably More if life spans continue to lengthen and death rates for children and Young adults go Down As expected. There were 2.7 million in the very old age group in 1984 and about 365,000 in 1940. The ratio of elderly Perton to persons of working age has grown from seven elderly per 100 persons aged 18 to 64 in 1900 to 19 per 100 today. By �010, there Are expected to be 22 elderly persons per 100 of working age and by 2050,38 per 100. And the census Bureau predicts thai the number of naw workers aged 18 to 24 will drop by 16 percent Over the next two decades. With this aging of America. The concept coming to be known As eldercare is attracting increasing attention. Company support for eldercare is Likely to become the new. Pioneering Benefit of the 1990s," says Dana e. Friedman a senior researcher for the business sponsored nonprofit conference Board. In Washington legislators have been looking at the problem. A provision of the parental and medical leave a pending in Congress requires companies to give workers up to 18 weeks of unpaid leave Over two years to care Tor elderly parents. The problem is ubiquitous says or Leon j Warshaw a retired cardiologist and now the executive director of the Mew York business group on health. It s in almost every  Bui usually he adds it is handled in a haphazard and hoc rather Sloppy  while caring for the elderly presents its problems some companies Are pulling the elderly to work. The estimates of dwindling numbers entering the labor Force is prompting some businesses to turn to retirees to fill seasonal or sporadic labor shortages for example travellers corp., a major insurance and Finandal services firm relies on retirees for about 60 percent of its temporary labor needs. At in retirement parties travellers recruits retirees to work temporarily at its Headquarters in Hartford Conn. The Retiree Job ban proved so popular with its own former workers that travellers now invites All area retirees to its parties. Travellers pays the retirees at the midpoint of the salary Range for the positions they fill which saves Money ii also saves fees it would have had to pay an outside temporary employment Agency. The aging of America has prompted businesses to give mom consideration to tha elderly in other ways too Florida Power & Light one of the nation s largest Public utilities. Offers classes for its employees on How to Deal Wilh senior citizens at one such class. Kenrick Simms. A marketing service representative donned glasses coated with vaseline and lord to read he attempted to Wale with his lingers taped Logel Hor and came up with a crippled scrawl not unlike that of an arthritis Sulleger. Cotton stuffed in his oars clogged his hearing. It really made me feel How in is to be old says Simms whose Job is to visit customers and help them find ways lock i Down on their electric Bills. Four out of live people he sees each Day Are in their Laler years before the course i just looked at an elderly person As someone old bul they have feelings too it really helps me out in the  the awareness that employees might need help caring Lor their aging Kin has been growing partly because of the increasing presence of women in the workplace. Elaine Brady director of the human services department at the Philadelphia geriatric Center says National studies show that care of an aging Parent usually Falls on a daughter or Daug Lerin Law. Many male executives Are not unsympathetic. Tha leadership of most corporations Are usually men in their 60s and above says Michael a. Creedon. A Gor oncologist at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut these Are people who themselves olten carry some responsibility for care of elderly so they Are sympathetic and aware of the  Donna Waner another University of Bridgeport old age specialist says businesses know in s in their Best interest to promote staff productivity and loyally. Wilh that in mind advocates of changes in traditional employee Benefit plans liberally Sprinkle their arguments with economic buzzwords like Cost  one of the advocates is Warshaw of the naw York business group on health. He says he knows he can t Appeal solely to corporate consciences. Businesses owe it to their stockholders and customers to keep an Eye on the Bottom line. This is costly Lohse employees in terms of the effects on their health and Well being and costly to their employers in terms of loss of time and impaired work performance Warshaw wrote in a foreward to research his group has done on employer support for employee care givers Warshaw says he is not out to convert corporations into welfare agencies. And he said he does t wan to create the false impression that constant care is needed by All elderly people the majority of whom Lead Active  september. Pepsico inc. Introduced programs for workers who Are sandwiched Between responsibilities to their aging relatives and their growing children. The eldercare portion of Pepsico s program consists of workshops at which an expert discusses myths and acts about aging. As another part of the program. The company commissioned a resource Book covering physical and mental aspects of aging and telling people where they can find help. It was prepared by the two University of Bridgeport professors Creedon and Wagner. Through a Telephone hot line staffed by professionals Pepsico workers also can Gat information on How to Deal with their particular problems. Pepsico is making eldercare available at first to about 5,000employees at its Purchase . Headquarters. The company which is the eighth largest employer in the United Stales expects to gradually expand it elsewhere. Saturday. November 29, 1s86 the stars and stripes