The official representative of the American Geriatrics Society reports on the 26th Annual Conference on Aging at Ann Arbor, Michigan, September 10–12, 1973. The subject was “Women: Life Span Challenges.” In the various addresses, workshops, seminars and discussions, national recognition was given to the needs and potentialities of the elderly woman.

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First-year medical students at UCLA are introduced to the special health problems of the elderly by a process in which they interview symptomatic volunteers at both extended care and ambulatory care facilities. In. addition, they interview healthy elderly volunteers to gain information on gerontology and lifespan development, with supplementation from selected readings, films, lectures and panels. This curricular model seems effective in reducing prejudice about the aged and in training future physicians to render humane competent care in the field of geriatrics.

In this title, the adjective "unlimited" as applied to the field of geriatrics refers not only to what the State can do for the old person, but also what the old person can reflect back to the community in the form of spiritual inspiration, skills learned over a lifetime, advice of a seasoned nature, and contribution to the economy. SHORT CLOVEROne day during the bank holiday of 1933, I was called to the home of an elderly woman. It was noon time. There were 5 lard cans turned upsidedown around the lunch table to serve as chairs. The 5 grandchildren who had been wished upon her by her "drifting children" were called to a meal of skim milk, hominy grits and dandelion greens. Blessings were said, and cheerfulness pervaded the meal. After licking of fingers and washing of cheeks, she placed the hands of blessing on the little upturned faces, and all scattered off to school.I said "I don't get it. How can you, a charwoman in a depression, take on all this responsibility with such good grace?" "Oh," she replied, "you see, I just thank the Lord every day for letting me thrive on short clover."To me, she reflects the glory of the aged one who not only meets the challenge late in life, but offers a positive contribution to the welfare of others. OLD LADY DOCTORAt this juncture it is fitting that I should present the background of a woman doctor who practiced medicine several generations ago. She enjoyed the pioneer examples of John Morgan and Benjamin Rush, but had not yet been exposed to the advent of anesthesia. (Much serious practice was accomplished before the refinements of Pasteur, Koch and Lister.) Such was my maternal great-greatgrandmother, Dr. Harriet John, who "read" medicine for two years and then served as medical apprentice for an equivalent time. In her library was the first surgical text written in America by John Jones in 1775. The great State of Ohio, barely a decade old, then granted her the right to practice long before women

: A report is presented to the American Geriatrics Society on the 24th Annual Conference on Aging, sponsored by the University of Michigan and Wayne State University, and held in Ann Arbor, Michigan, June 7–9, 1971. Plenary sessions, workshops, panel presentations and discussion groups filled half a week of endeavor concerning “The Care of Old People—Creating the Humane Environment.” A description of old people in need of care was combined with issues and achievements, nudging the economics of health goals along the way. The mobilization of organized groups of retired persons, with a political potential, was an outstanding feature.