£54                               JOINT RESOLUTIONS

WHEREAS, The Council of State Governments engaged Professor
Ernest W. Burgess, of the University of Chicago, as consultant; and
the study of the activities of State and local governments resulted
in a book published by the Council, entitled "The States and Their
Older Citizens," which contains "A Bill of Objectives for Older
People" and a section termed "A Program for Action;" and

WHEREAS, The said Bill of Objectives sets up the following ten
principles that should engage the interest of the community in Look-
ing at its senior citizens;

1.  Equal Opportunity to Work. Our society recognizes the value
of work to the person and to the community. The older person
should have equal opportunity, if physically and mentally able, to be
gainfully employed.

2.  Adequate Minimum Income. Older persons should have a re-
tirement income sufficient for health and for participation in com-
munity life as self-respecting citizens.

3.  Home Living. Older persons are entitled to the satisfactions
of living in their own homes and, when this is not feasible, in suit-
able substitute private homes.

4.  Homelike Institutional Care. For older persons who need care
that cannot be given them in their own or other private homes, they
have a right to expect the institutions that serve them to be as home-
like as possible and have high standards of care.

5.  Physical and Mental Health. Older adults should have adequate
nutrition, preventive medicine and medical care adapted to the con-
ditions of their years.

6.  Physical and Mental Rehabilitation. Older persons who are
chronically ill, physically disabled, mentally disturbed, or unemploy-
able for other reasons, have a right, to the fullest extent possible, to
be restored to independent, useful lives in their homes and com-
munities.

7.  Participation in Community Activities. Older citizens can ex-
pect encouragement and assistance to form social groups and to par-
ticipate with those of other ages in recreational, educational, religious
and civic activities in their communities.

8.  Social Services. In planning for retirement and in meeting the
crises of their later years, older persons should have the benefits of
such social services as counseling, information, vocational retrain-
ing and social casework.

9.  Research, Professional Training. Older citizens should be able
to expect an increase of research on the human aspects of aging and
development of special courses in schools and departments of med-
icine, nursing, clinical psychology and social work to train profes-
sional workers in the field of aging.

10.  Freedom, Independence, Initiative. In securing the foregoing
objectives there should be increased emphasis on the right and ob-
ligation of older citizens to free choice, self-help and planning of
their own futures; and