These remarks were an in-house affair, the venue was in our own quarters, and the mood was informal. I addressed not only the audience, but from time to time the Secretary of HHS, Otis Bowen and Assistant Secretary of HHS, Dorcas Hardy. They had given me some honors that morning and I began by thanking them for that and congratulated both sides over the linkage we had established between the Public Health Service and the Administration on Aging (not in the Public Health Service but in the Department of Health and Human Services).
In kicking off Older Americans' Month, I was really referring to the joint Public Health Service -- Administration on Aging campaign to promote the health of older Americans. I stuck pretty much to that theme, indicating that wishing wouldn't do it, but we had some specific obligations. These included prevention of accidental injuries, better nutrition, and the wise use of medication.
Inasmuch as I was addressing the bureaucracy of HHS, I brought out an old saw and said to my mind a bureaucrat was not a term that had a negative connotation, but rather signified dedicated people, who labor every day on behalf of older men and women, everywhere in this country. I closed with greetings from one old bureaucrat to the others present.
Accidental injuries
Better nutrition for the elderly
Bureaucracies
Older American's Month
Teaching the elderly the wise use of medications
Walks for health
Administration on Aging
Secretary, Otis Bowen
Assistant secretary, Dorcas Hardy
Commissioner Fisk
Whitney Houston
Joint Public Health Services (PHS) -- Administration on Aging Campaign (AOA)
Kenny Rogers