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Cross-Posted from Sunrise Senior Living
By Julia Little
Growing old presents new challenges to staying healthy and in good spirits. By following these tips, seniors can minimize the risk of getting sick, less independent or unhappy in their golden years. Continue reading
Cross-posted from Age-Friendly Boston
By Mayor Martin J. Walsh
Here in Boston, we are committed to making our city a place where everyone can succeed — of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities. This is our guiding principle as we plan and build the future of our city. That’s why an essential goal of our citywide plan is to make sure the seniors who built our city can continue to thrive here. And it’s why I announced in my State of the City address last month that we are building a plan to make Boston the most age-friendly city in America. Continue reading
By Jennifer Raymond, Director, Healthy Living Center of Excellence
Two Healthy Aging Collaborative members, Elder Services of the Merrimack Valley and Hebrew SeniorLife, recently received a $49,187 grant from Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation to support their collaboration on the Healthy Living Center of Excellence (HCLE). The HCLE offers more than 14 evidence-based wellness, prevention and disease management programs statewide aimed at improved health outcomes and increased social engagement.
By Elizabeth Costello, MPH, MA Healthy Aging Collaborative web team
Is your community taking steps to become age-friendly? Do you plan to in the future? We are pleased to introduce a new website feature to support this work: The Healthy Aging Collaborative Age-Friendly Toolkit. Continue reading
On December 29, 2015, the White House released its final report from the July 2015 Conference on Aging. The conference focused on the issues facing Americans as they plan for retirement, care for older loved ones, and work to improve our quality of life as we age. Healthy aging was one of four policy topics, in addition to retirement security, long-term services and support, and elder justice. Continue reading
Cross-posted from Grantmakers in Aging.
The theme of the 2015 conference, Soaring into the Future: Seeking New Horizons in Aging and Philanthropy, brought together experts and stakeholders with innovative approaches to delivering on this agenda. Continue reading
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
The City of Salem has officially joined the AARP Network of Age-Friendly Communities. On October 22, 2015, AARP presented Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll with a certificate congratulating the city, the mayor, and committee members on their work to make Salem more livable for people at all ages and all stages of life. Continue reading
Next Avenue, a new public media service for American’s 50+ population, provides news, information and advice for older adults. The published their first annual list of Influencers in Aging to recognize some of the thought leaders, innovators, advocates and everyday people who are helping redefine what it means to grow old in America.
Joseph Coughlin, director of MIT AgeLab and many others working in Massachusetts made the list!
See who else is on the list and follow the conversation on Twitter at hashtag #InfluencingAging.
Cross-posted from CityLab
By Amy Crawford
“You’ll have to excuse us, because we’re about to serve lunch, and it’s total chaos,” says Marilyn Hurwitz, striding through the busy lobby of the Swampscott Senior Center toward a multipurpose room where some three dozen elderly women and a handful of men sit waiting for their salmon fillets, spinach salads, and split-pea soup.
The ladies—who, in the gracious style of their generation, wear skirts and stockings, accessorized with lipstick and tasteful jewelry—sit chatting, their walkers and canes parked nearby. But should lunch be late, Hurwitz assures me, they are capable of creating a ruckus.
“You should see the poker games,” she says.
A tendency toward unruly cafeteria behavior is one thing the senior citizens in Swampscott, a seaside Boston suburb, have in common with the town’s youth, but it’s not the only thing. In fact, the airy 7,500-square-foot facility that hosts their knitting circles, card games, and exercise classes shares space with the local high school.