ORONO – Those helping the elderly have gotten a lot of things wrong, experts at a conference on aging said Tuesday.

A key misstep is that too much focus is placed on medical care when the causes of deteriorating health are often social problems like isolation, depression and inadequate income. Studies have shown that these issues underlie as much as 80 percent of the health problems of elders, said Leah Binder, executive director of the Healthy Community Coalition of Farmington.

“Those factors affect the longevity more than any other,” Binder told the more than 200 policy makers, healthcare workers and activists gathered for the conference called “Building Healthy Communities for Elders and Caregivers: the Intersection of Policy, Research and Practice.”

The issues are becoming more important for the state as a whole as its aged members become more dominant. In just nine years Maine will see a 40 percent increase in people older than 85, according to the Coalition for a Maine Aging Initiative, which sponsored the conference.

Several speakers, like Binder, challenged the group to rethink stereotypes of older people in an effort to reduce community barriers. They urged health care workers and advocates to change the way they view aging and the services they provide. And they said everyone needs to do a better job of asking the elderly about their situations and getting them involved in community efforts.

Binder, who had worked in public health under New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani before returning to Maine, said that just as in the city, older people become more and more isolated in today’s world.

“It’s very common and very troubling in a rural community because rural communities lack transportation,” she said.

There are fewer events like grange hall meetings for people in rural areas these days, she added. At the same time, more and more older Mainers sit in front of televisions and become further removed socially.

Binder explained that in one rural community in Franklin County, elders embrace blood-pressure screenings more for the social aspect than for the medical.

“They see it as a social event,” she said. Building a community is effective in improving the health of elders, she said.

Still, Binder said she’s been guilty of using stereotypes when thinking about elders.

Not anymore, she said. Now she said she is convinced that many older Mainers can make vital contributions to their communities, if leaders work to engage them. For instance, she said one 92-year-old works at the hospital in Farmington and is a valued worker.

Dr. Roger Perry, a retired physician who lives in Farmington, said interaction for senior citizens is important to health.

“The way to reduce the cost of drugs is not to use them,” he explained.

University of Maine Professor Leonard Kaye, who has written numerous books on aging issues, said he wanted to apologize for himself and academia for doing work that has built on stereotypes without adequate interviews with the people the studies are actually about.

“Most importantly we need to hear what [older] people have to say,” he said.

He said research, his own included, has focused heavily on the negative aspects of old age. In discussing elders, academics have concentrated on work that would meet the criteria of “the almighty funders.”

“Those discussions dismissed the possibility that older adults can take charge of their own lives,” he said.

One theme sounded again and again is that older Mainers are a proud bunch, reluctant to ask for help because it signals a loss of independence.

Only a few older Mainers were at the meeting. One white-haired lady listened to the comments during a breakout session when a younger woman suggested she be heard.

“I’ll be 80 next month. But I’ve come to the part of my life where I’ve had to ask for help – risking my reputation,” she said.

The Coalition is working to improve the network of care and assistance available to elders in Maine. Last year it conducted focus groups to identify problems and possible solutions.

Debbie Killam, of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, said, based on feedback, she’s sure that only reducing interagency turf wars will result in better services for the elderly. No amount of state money would succeed in helping seniors if communities don’t reduce barriers and improve relationships for better networks, she said.