With a goal to raise awareness around services and supports for older adults and caregivers, the Massachusetts Adult Immunization Coalition and Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative have partnered to create an informational resource available in multiple languages that will be distributed at COVID-19 vaccination sites managed by CIC Health. Continue reading
Monthly Archives: May 2021
Issue Brief – Medicare and Telehealth: Coverage and Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Options for the Future
An issue brief published by Kaiser Family Foundation dives into the rapid expansion of telehealth during the pandemic. For example, among the vast majority of Medicare beneficiaries with a usual source of care (95%), such as a doctor or other health professional, or a clinic, nearly two-thirds (64% or 33.6 million) say that their provider currently offers telehealth appointments, up from 18% who said their provider offered telehealth before the pandemic.
But nearly a quarter of Medicare beneficiaries (23%) say they don’t know if their provider offers telehealth appointments, and this percentage is larger among beneficiaries who live in rural areas (30%). Continue reading
Greater Boston Food Bank Reports on Food Insecurity During Pandemic
Massachusetts saw an overall increase in food insecurity of 55 percent from 2019 to 2020, according to a new survey conducted by The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) in collaboration with the National Food Access and COVID Research Team (NFACT) and funded by the Hunger to Health Collaboratory (H2HC) and Stop & Shop, founding member of H2HC. Continue reading
Equity in Aging – News, Notes and Events
With the launch of Equity in Aging from the Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative, AARP Massachusetts and the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts, we will be periodically sharing news, resources and upcoming events on the topic that may be of interest to our network of partners and stakeholders.
The Equity in Aging Committee will be helping to drive the content of these updates as well as our ongoing webinar series, but we welcome submissions from others, which can be emailed to James Fuccione at MHAC. Continue reading
MAPC Seeks Feedback on MetroCommon2050, the Greater Boston Region’s Long Term Plan
MetroCommon2050 is Greater Boston’s next long-range regional plan. It’s a plan for all of the 101 cities and towns and countless neighborhoods of the region of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC).
Through research and community engagement, MAPC gathered opinions from thousands throughout the region, including people of different ages, backgrounds, racial and ethnic backgrounds, walks of life, and perspectives. This allowed us to confirm that the goals in MetroCommon reflect Greater Boston’s hopes and dreams and that our view of the problems that need to be solved is correct. Continue reading
AARP and Congress for the New Urbanism Release ‘A Handbook for Improved Neighborhoods’
A new toolkit developed by AARP Livable Communities and the Congress for the New Urbanism called Enabling Better Places: A Handbook for Improved Neighborhoods provides options for communities to consider as they identify and select small-scale, incremental policy changes that can be made without overhauling entire zoning codes and land use policies.
This toolkit could be especially useful in the relatively new context of the Housing Choice Law, which reduced the number of votes required to enact certain kinds of zoning ordinances and bylaws from a ⅔ supermajority to a simple majority, among other changes. Continue reading
Discounts via FCC’s Emergency Broadband Benefit Start May 12
The Federal Communications Commission today (5/12) kicked off the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this program will make available up to $3.2 billion worth of consumer discounts on broadband services and equipment like computers and tablets. Continue reading
Join Us for ‘Celebrating Community Strength’ Event to Release ReiMAgine Aging’s Year Two Progress Report
On Thursday, May 27th from 10:30 to 11:30 AM we will be holding a virtual celebration to recognize Older Americans Month and release the Massachusetts ReiMAgine Aging: Year Two Progress Report. Continue reading
Alzheimer’s Advisory Council Releases Massachusetts State Plan on Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias
The Massachusetts Alzheimer’s Advisory Council, established under Chapter 220 of the Acts of 2018, released the Massachusetts State Plan on Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias. Continue reading
National Poll on Healthy Aging Reveals Findings on Older Adult Mental Health During the Pandemic
According to new findings from the National Poll on Healthy Aging, nearly one in five older adults say their mental health has gotten worse since the pandemic began in March 2020, and an equal percentage say their sleep has suffered in that time too. More than one in four say they’re more anxious or worried than before the COVID-19 era, according to a new poll of people age 50 to 80. Continue reading
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