Fifty & Fabulous

Discovering North Carolina
By Mary Jekielek Insprucker
November 2005

Von Valletta, the current state president of AARP in North Carolina, has used her life to make the lives of others better.

Von Valletta

She served as a commissioned officer in the Women's Army Corps during the Korean Conflict, as Assistant State Superintendent for Development in the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, and as Deputy Commissioner of Education for the State of Minnesota.

At 62, when she left her job in the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Minnesota, she did not consider it retiring. “I did not retire; I just gave up five or six posts to serve on another,” said Valletta.

Indeed, the 75-year-old was doing just that during a recent AARP long-term stragetic planning conference in Washington DC. “I came away from the meeting feeling some large organizations I have been involved with in the past, set large ambitions they missed. But AARP, whose mission is to do what is necessary to allow the elderly to age with dignity, independence and purpose in their lives, comes closet to reinforcing that mission by performance,” said Valletta.

The George Washington University National Leadership in Education Award winner said one of the goals of the conference was to strategize about what adjustments are necessary for AARP to remain affective in the future. Of course, one of the issues was Social Security. “With 76 million baby-boomers nearing retirement, the largest cohort retiring in our nation’s history, many believe Social Security will go bankrupt,” said Valletta. “That is not true. That could only happen if our nation defaults on US Treasury Bonds and that won’t happen.”

Valletta was particularly proud of one action she performed while serving on the Executive Council, a group of strategic thinkers and planners on state and national AARP priorities. It centered on the issue of rising health costs in relation to medical malpractice lawsuits. “It is not true that medical malpractice suits affect medical costs,” said Valletta. “The data shows that when medical malpractice suits are filed because of injury or death due to medical error, 90 percent of the time we see cases settled out of court. Those settled at the courtroom door show no data indicating juries pass out liberal settlements.

“So when legislators wanted to put a cap on settlements, I prepared a policy position. We planned a strategy based on data, not on political desire or rhetoric, and convinced North Carolina legislators to refrain from enacting such legislature.”

Then what is causing the rise in health care expenditures according to Valletta, who won a leadership award from then U.S. Secretary of Education, William Bennett, for service to the National Institute of Education? “Excessive corporate greed by multi-national pharmaceutical companies,” she said.

As North Carolina’s state president of AARP, an organization with over 36 million members, including almost 1 million in NC, Valletta found her greatest challenge to be membership recruitment. “The enrollment of the baby-boomers is not the same as past generations,” she said. “The change in the economy, debt load and being overloaded has kept them from volunteering. It’s the lack of time and energy, not selfishness. But if membership doesn’t go up, programs and services will have to be reduced.”

For Valletta, besides the main 50-pluser button-pushers like Social Security and health care, the fate of the baby-boomers is a concern. “Because of lifestyles, they are going to find it difficult to adjust without good advice, assistance, and financial planning, to be ready for a secure retirement,” said Valletta. “They need help to reduce debt, increase savings, and to do it now, not once retirement is already upon them.” To this end, AARP is developing on-line, as well as face-to-face courses, to help folks master these techniques. The program should be available within 18 months.

Where did she think she would be at 50? “I was raised by parents who lived until their mid-nineties and remained actively engaged until that time, so I have a family history,” she said. “I find life is more interesting and enjoyable when you are actively engaged in a meaningful life.”

Valletta had these thoughts as her six-year term as North Carolina state president of AARP draws to its end in 2006. “I’m glad I invested the time, energy and interest in long-term strategic planning for North Carolina and the nation,” she said. “It has been challenging and rewarding because it is very important work.”

However, just because her term has run out, doesn’t mean she has. In fact, her next mission is rather revolutionary. “There’s a new scientific breakthrough that shows the need for eight saccahride nutrients and it’s going to create social change,” says Valletta. “I plan to teach seminars to human beings on how to support cellular restoration in their bodies by getting these essentials saccahrides into their system.”

Saccahrides- groundbreaking medical news…Valletta- groundbreaking woman!