Health care legislation, retirement, human rights and cost of living were part of a discussion Friday at Mendocino Hall.

The lecture, which was arranged by The Renaissance Society, was attended by about 100 people and included guest speaker, Celia Esquivel.

Esquivel, who is the associate state director of the California branch of the American Association of Retired People and the vice chair for the California Commission of Aging, spoke on everything from the 2005 White House Conference on Aging to the governor’s stand on medical and how society’s opinion of aging is negatively affected by Hollywood.

“We need to stop worrying about looks and start taking care of ourselves,” Esquivel said. “We need to think about what it really means to (age in a healthy way).”

Esquivel said in order to truly take care of oneself, people must be aware of what is happening around them, what services are available and how they are viewed by society.

Her list of things to remember include: planning for retirement, the coordination of community services for older people, health and long living.

Esquivel, who fought for the reauthorization of the Older Americans Act, said it is also important to not only join in the fight against age discrimination, but also to educate outsiders about what is happening in the aging community.

“We need to educate everybody from realtors and construction workers to doctors and employers on what we as the older generation not only need but what we want as well,” Esquivel said.

Esquivel said a big but silent issue for a lot older people is elder abuse.

“I am proud to say that Sacramento just broke ground on what will be the first elder safe house west of the Mississippi,” Esquivel said.

Renaissance Society member Mike Sands said everything mentioned at the lecture is very important but that it’s unfortunate because the information isn’t reaching the places it needs to.

“I think we have a national administration that has given a lot of lip service but no action on the subject,” Sands said. “The points mentioned by Celia were valid and should be discussed further on a more national level.”

Jane Robinson, another Renaissance Society member, agreed that the lecture was very informational but said that it is upsetting to see how little has been done on the subject up until this point.

“There has obviously been a lot of effort and time put into this topic, yet nothing has changed in the last 45 years,” Robinson said.

Ashley Evans can be reached at [email protected]