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Category Archives: Data and Reports

Boston Food Resource Maps Aim to Provide Better Access to Healthy Meal Options

Data and Reports, Systems and Best Practices

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh’s Office of Food Access has created food resource maps in six languages for each of the city’s neighborhoods with a goal of improving the availability to healthy eating options for all residents.

The Massachusetts Municipal Association highlighted the maps in a recent article in their “Community Corner” newsletter that promotes best practices and examples that other cities and towns can follow. The Healthy Aging Collaborative is recognizing the Boston Food Access Maps as a best practice specifically for Age-Friendly Communities. Continue reading →

UMass Boston and LeadingAge Announce LTSS Research Center

Data and Reports, News and Updates

A first-in-the-country research center is being established thanks to a partnership between LeadingAge and the Gerontology Institute at UMass Boston.

According to an announcement from UMass, the LTSS Center @UMass Boston will “combine the expertise of applied and academic researchers with the unique perspectives of providers and consumers of long-term services and supports (LTSS). The center will conduct research aimed at transforming the way LTSS are financed, delivered, and experienced by older adults and their families.”

LeadingAge has posted an FAQ with details on the research center and a press release from the Gerontology Institute is available here.

Independence—It’s What Older People Want

Data and Reports

Cross-posted from Health Affairs Blog
By Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, FAAN, President of the John A Hartford Foundation

We already know what older people want.  A study from the National Conference of State Legislatures and AARP, as well as other studies, confirm, time and again, that the vast majority of us want to live in our homes and communities as we age, and, if possible, to avoid dependence on others and institutionalization. Continue reading →

How Community-Based Organizations Can Support Value-Driven Health Care

Data and Reports, News and Updates

Cross-posted from HealthAffairsBlog
By Anand Parekh, MD, MPH, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Robert Schreiber, MD, Hebrew SeniorLife

As our health care system transforms more quickly than ever from paying for volume to paying for value, providers have strong incentives to ensure that their patients’ care plans are reinforced and supported outside the clinical setting in people’s homes and communities. Continue reading →

50 Years In, the Older Americans Act is at a Turning Point

Data and Reports

By MA Healthy Aging Collaborative

Update: On July 16, 2015, the Senate passed the bill to reauthorize the Older Americans Act (OAA). This is an important milestone that will help ensure the continuation of vital programs and services for older Americans and their caregivers. Here is Assistant Secretary for Aging Kathy Greenlee’s statement on Senate passage of the OAA reauthorization.

In July 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Older Americans Act into law. For the past 50 years, the OAA has supported healthy aging by funding a national network of social and nutrition services such as home-delivered and congregate meals, preventive health services, caregiver support, transportation, job training, elder abuse prevention, and more. Continue reading →

Assessing the Age-Friendliness of Your Community

Data and Reports

By Angel Bourgoin, PhD, JSI | MA Healthy Aging Collaborative website

A crucial step in improving the age-friendliness of your community is to identify its current strengths and areas for improvement. Conducting a community assessment can help you to engage community members, highlight problems as well as their potential solutions, challenge assumptions, and offer credibility to important stakeholders. Conducting a baseline assessment is also one of the first steps to applying to join the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities. Examples of age-friendly assessments from New York City, Washington D.C., and Portland, Oregon are available online. Continue reading →