Organization

Josefina G. Carbonell was appointed by President George W. Bush as the Assistant Secretary for Aging at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and confirmed by the Senate in August 2001. The President’s appointment of Ms. Carbonell followed 30 years of aging community service in Florida. Ms. Carbonell led one of the largest Hispanic community based long-term care organizations in the nation that provides health, nutrition, transportation, adult-day and personal care services through community partnerships, working with volunteers and intergenerational programs. At the present time, Josefina Carbonell is the longest serving Assistant Secretary for Aging.

Assistant Secretary Carbonell brought a strategic vision to AoA that centers upon improving the capacity of the community-based Aging Network to help older adults live and age with the highest quality of life possible in their communities. Her priorities promote the President’s commitment to increase the health and vitality of America’s elders by improving access to quality care, emphasizing prevention for improved longevity and fostering consumer choice.

Some of the Administration on Aging’s outstanding accomplishments under Assistant Secretary Carbonell’s leadership are: 1) successful mobilization of the Aging Network in community education events and personalized assistance to Medicare beneficiaries on the new benefits under Medicare; 2) broad-based efforts to modernize access to long-term care through Aging and Disability Resource Centers; 3) community-based consumer use evidence-based chronic disease and disability prevention programs; 4) improved long-term care partnerships among many organizations both public and private; and, most recently, 5) the 16th reauthorization of the Older Americans Act that incorporates the principles of integrated, modernized and consumer-directed long-term care for older adults and adults with disabilities.

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