Dear FRONTLINE,

Let's establish a few facts first: Of elderly people only 5 to 7 percent end up in a nursing home, according to the last figures I heard. Baby Boomers were born from 1946 to 1963 that means that they range in age from about 44 to 61 years of age. So Baby Boomers are not retiring in great numbers yet they are caring for their children and aging parents.

Your story on tv here seemed to accentuate the negative as though the diseases were the only things connected to old age. There has always been something people died of and, unless people live forever, always will be. You can not use the fact that people will die eventually as an excuse not to treat them. We conquer what people are dieing of and they die of something else so we go conquer that. It is not a time to retreat it is a time to go to war against death and win some battles. People will eventually die and we will have to let go but until then lets win every foot against death that we can win and push death back as far as possible.

Yes, it costs money but the cost seems to change in importance depending on whether the money is being spent on the other guy or on you. Whose ox is being gored?

Roger Elf
college, texas

Dear FRONTLINE,

As Boomers my sister and I are now responsible for our 90 year old mother who suffers from acute arthiritis in her knees and sciatica. The blessing is that our mother remains very sharp mentally and is well aware of all that is going on around her. Our goal has become to make her as comfortable as possible with the time she has remaining here on earth. As a male I have been able to avoid some of the acute care she occasionally requires and for this I at times feel quite guilty and bad for my sister whose life and role have now changed completely. We share in all of the major decisions that have been made so far as my mother continues to struggle after returning home from a seven week stay in a rehab center. I readily identified with all of the MD's, caregivers, sons and daughters and the elderly who appeared on this program. A well done documentary. It appears our road will only get tougher.

Colorado, Colorado

Dear FRONTLINE,

After watching "Living Old". It has confirmed my intention not to seek medical attention for a serious illness after 70 years of age. All I will seek is to be pain free and as confortable as I can. I am going on 63 years of age now, and acctually am in good physical condition. I will try to stay healthy for as long as I can. But, when health starts to fail me, The quality of life will be gone, taking with it the will to live.

camanche, iowa

Dear FRONTLINE,

For the last 22 years, my wife and I have helped hunderds of frail senior adults find hope, peace, purpose and nurturing relationships through a personal relationship with the Lord. This is not just helping them develop a self-decided belief system to make them feel good. It is pointing them to the God of the Holy Bible. When they (and many have done so before we meet them) accept God's word and will and open their hearts to Him, Christ enters their soul and they grow in a personal relationship with our Creator. Such people do not fear their future, they learn to make the best of what abilities they have. God's personal intervention gives them courage and contentment. He helps them resolve past/present conflicts through forgiveness and/or repentance and obeying His commands to love Him and love our neighbors as ourselves. Would be great if PBS had the courage to share this side of the story.

Bill Goodrich
Avon Lake, Ohio

Dear FRONTLINE,

I thought the program "Living Old" was great for many reasonsbut it also had a couple of weaknesses.

It explained well the problem that has developed in our country with health care for the aged, infirm and sick. It showed how difficult it is taking care of an old person 24 hours a day/7 days a week. It showed wonderful, dedicated nurses, doctors,relatives and aides who really care for their patients - people who give their time and effort to take care of the end of life decisions that must be made for another person.

It was truly a great movie and it needs to be shown again and again and again until something is done to wake the country up to the true dimensions of this problem.

As for its weaknesses: It did not show any examples of sick people who are also taken care of by male Caregivers. My wife of 59 years has had Alzheimers Disease for 11 years; she is now in a nursing home after breaking her hip at home. She has been in the nursing home 5 years. I pal around with two other men who are in the same boat - one with a wife with Alzheimers for- years and the other with Alzheimers 14 years. We met each other in a early onset Alzheimer support group.

It is a very difficult job; and for me and the government, very costly.

Another weakness is that possible answers for the problem of one on one care, which I provide for my wife, were not discussed so people can mull over them. What do other caring countries do? England, Sweden, New Zealand, Japan?

One thing I know is that there should also be Support Groups for Caregivers who take care of people in nursing homes - not just for the early onset stage.

Please show this film again and to the producer please make a second and third installment - Living Old II and Living Old III.

I thank everyone involved for this wonderful film; however, it is only the beginning.

Emanuel Sarfaty
Hewlett, New York

Dear FRONTLINE,

I watched with great interest your broadcast on aging in america. I have been dealing with many of the same problems that were presented on the progam and have spent many sleepless nights thinking about what were our family's opitions. It has become very clear to me that our country is heading for a train wreck. While we were able to provide the care our parents needed it is very apparent that the care now avilable will not be there when the boomers need long term heath care. More important and frighting is the lack of political will to address the problem. Hell there isn't even a willingness to acknowledge there is a problem. The entire heath delivery system is designed to cure desease. It will be totally overwhelmed by the aging in ten years. My doctor friends tell me they are fully aware of this impending crisis but say there is no will in Washington to change the statis quo. They also say there will be no action in goverment until the american people take responiblity for their health and abandon thier belief that health care is an entitlement. We better get going.

clarence leopold
toledo, ohio

Dear FRONTLINE,

I live at a continuing care community in Wallingford, CT where the median age of our residents is 87. We present a very different picture from what you showed on your Frontline "Living Old" Your audience should be made aware that many elderly are living very happy and fulfilling lives well into their 90's. I would be glad to introduce you to many of my friends and neighbors.

Norton Agriss
Wallingford, Connecticut

Dear FRONTLINE,

As a hospice nurse I see on a daily basis the struggle families have to decide when to end aggresive care. So often we hear from families that physicians did not discuss prognosis and treatment options with the patients or the families until very late in the disease process. Many families we care for state that if they were aware of options they would choose comfort or pallitive care over aggressive care sooner.

mara Stumbo
Wyoming, ohio

Dear FRONTLINE,

As a hospice social worker, I was appaled at the doctor's failing to mention hospice to the elderly couple caring for the man at home, planning to place a "feeding tube" (actually artificial nutrition/hydration) in the demented patient. Thank goodness there are doctors who are willing to present all the options to their patients and to call in a social worker or chaplain when they can't bring themselves to stop "doing" and be there for their patients. My first patient was discharged from hospice and lived 9 more years because for the first time in months his pain was under control. He had cancer and later took more chemo before he died. Those 9 years were very happy and productive. More often, doctors call hospice when they can't do any more 3 days before the patient dies. They don't want to be there when death occurs, so it's time to call hospice. I am 72 years old and employed full-time with a hospice.

, TX

Dear FRONTLINE,

So much energy is being spent to care for us at the end of our lives. Energy that could much better be used to help the younger have a better existance in this country and around the world. When we get to the point in our lives where we cannot care for ourselves and become an even larger burden on others, it should not be thought that anyone could save our life, but only prolong our death. That should be a crime, prolonging someones death.

Columbus, Ohio

Dear FRONTLINE,

I am absolutely horrified by your program on growing old. You reinforce the current consensus that old age is an unstoppable slide into illness, mental decline, prescription drug dependence and helplessness. You encourage the national vision of old age as a kind of descent into hell. This one-sided -- and conventional -- point of view is standard for network TV. It is unworthy of FRONTLINE.Of course what you picture can happen, but it need not be the norm. An emphasis on health and physical movement and involvement in worthy activity in midlife can change much of the course of old age. I'm in my seventies. I run a full-time business, dance, climb mountains, have sex and wake up in the morning feeling great. I know others who are living full and active lives in their 80's and even 90's. Many of these people, like myself, continue to work by choice, often pursuing new interests and even new professions. Most of them also work at keeping some level of physical fitness and an emphasis on wellness rather than resigning themselves to the disabilities of age.Old age has always been difficult, but I remember most of the old people I knew as a child as cogent and active, able to help with work in the house and out, engaged in their families and communities even into their seventies and eighties. By emphasizing the current sedentary, prescription drug-fueled culture of aging which can only end as you have pictured it, you reinforce the status quo. If you're going to present old age in America, FRONTLINE, I hope you will move up to your high standards of thoughtful reporting and put this biased program behind you.

new york, ny

FRONTLINE's producers respond:

We certainly acknowledge that there are a great number of elderly who are leading active and engaged lives. However, the majority cannot. Approximately 55 percent of Americans over 85 require long-term care. And with the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population being this 85+ group, FRONTLINE felt it was important to call attention to what families and our society will be confronting in the coming years. There are more facts about America's aging society and their health problems ,in the "Cost of Care" section of this site.