Reflections on Ageism in our Culture: On Aging, Older Americans Month, and Schaalman Senior Voices
CHaSCI and others from the Department of Social Work and Community Health (SWaCH) at RUSH University Medical Center (RUSH) attended the American Society on Aging’s On Aging conference last week. On Aging, the nation’s largest multidisciplinary conference on aging and the annual conference for members of the American Society on Aging, was a wonderful opportunity to connect with, learn from, and share expertise with thousands of fellow professionals working in aging and related fields.
The theme for On Aging 2025 was “Ageism and Culture.” Ageism—stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination directed toward others or oneself based upon age—has profound social, economic and health impacts. This year's conference theme focused on addressing ageism and its deep-rooted, pervasive presence in our culture. On Aging 2025 brought together experts, policymakers and advocates to explore innovative solutions and policy recommendations that could help make society more welcoming, accessible, and supportive to people of all ages. The conference also highlighted the need to shift the way we think and talk about aging, with an emphasis on showing aging in a more positive light and building stronger connections between generations.
“The energy at On Aging was contagious,” says SWaCH colleague Stephanie Bailey, Program Coordinator for the Caring for Caregivers program at RUSH. “With the world feeling so unpredictable and scary a lot of the time, the conference helped me recognize this political moment as an opportunity to become even more focused on helping older adults and their caregivers - rather than a terrifying thing to run away from.”
At On Aging, our team presented on multiple panels, workshops, and conversations, including:
Integrating Whole-Person Care into Social Care and Health Care Systems, with several team members presenting about our suite of whole-person health programs offered at Rush in our Social Work and Community Health department:
Health promotion and disease prevention programs
Safety net care management using the CHaSCI care model
Rush@Home primary care management
Developments in financial sustainability
Building and Integrating a Diverse Social Care Workforce in Healthcare with colleagues from the Coalition for Social Work and Health, exploring:
Value and roles of social care workforce, with focus on social workers
How health and community systems are deploying social care teams
Policy initiatives and reimbursement changes supporting workforce integration and diversity
Immigrant-friendly care panel, including our SWaCH colleague Padraic Stanley, Program Manager of Community Integration, Health Promotion & Disease Prevention
On Being an Aging Woman: A Conversation, led by SWaCH colleague Grisel Rodriguez-Morales, RUSH Generations Program Director and CHaSCI Director of Policy and Partnerships Robyn Golden
We were also thrilled to see Indigo Hill Strategies, the government affairs partner of the Coalition for Social Work and Health, on the main stage!
The On Aging conference came just in time to usher in Older Americans Month just a few weeks later. Every May, the Administration for Community Living (ACL) leads the nation’s observance of Older Americans Month, a time to recognize older Americans' contributions, highlight aging trends, and reaffirm our commitment to serving older adults. The 2025 theme, Flip the Script on Aging, focuses on transforming how society perceives, talks about, and approaches aging and encourages us to challenge stereotypes and dispel misconceptions—both at the individual and community level.
This year, we can't help but notice that On Aging and Older Americans month focused on a similar issue: shifting the culture around aging in our society. This concept was also reflected in this year’s Schaalman Senior Voices Thought Leader Lecture, an annual event hosted by the E4 Center and the RUSH Center for Excellence in Aging: “Out of Sync: The Age and Age Perception Disconnect” with Dr. Tracey Gendron. Among other important points, Gendron’s lecture explained the ways in which our mindset about aging—how we view and talk about our own and others’ age and the identities related to age—affects our wellbeing as we age. As an example, Gendron points out that the Game of Life ends at retirement, exemplifying how our society places the highest value on our income-earning years (and starts teaching those values at a very young age!). In line with the theme of both On Aging and Older Americans Month, Gendron argues that we need to fight ageism both at the individual and community level in order to promote healthy and inclusive aging for all of us.
These themes around aging, ageism, and culture align strongly with the work we do at CHaSCI and in the larger Department of Social Work and Community Health at RUSH and that we highlighted at the On Aging conference. For any age and any population, it’s important to include social care into our conversations around and delivery of health care. However, health and social care integration is particularly relevant for aging populations. Older adults often face unique and complex health-related social needs—such as social isolation, limited mobility, and fixed incomes—that significantly impact their overall well-being and access to care. At CHaSCI and in SWaCH, we are dedicated to providing quality care, programming, care coordination, and advocacy to help all people age well. On Aging and Older Adults Month have presented valuable opportunities to reflect on the importance of our work, how we can improve, and how we can collaborate with others in the field to advance a culture of healthy aging in our society.