Community Health Promotion
The rapidly growing population of elderly creates challenges for local and national government agencies as well as individuals as they deal with health care, employment, housing, social security and other issues that concern the older population. Today local communities play a vital role in improving the quality of life and promoting health of their older residents. Specifically, senior centers are becoming more popular than ever among older adult populations as they provide a single point of access for all information and services in the community and help older adults age with dignity and independence.
West Town Senior Center
Currently, there are sixteen senior centers in Chicago, including six regional
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The center is located at 1613 W. Chicago Ave. and is open during the weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The center’s programs focus mainly on three big problems faced by seniors: malnutrition, lack of exercise and social isolation. On average, the WTSC serves daily about sixty baby boomers (50-59 years old) and seniors (60+ years old) that reside in the 1st, 26th, 27th, 32nd, and 35th wards.
Population and Services
According to the National Council on Aging (2015), senior centers have become one of the most widely used services among America’s older adults. Today, 11,400 senior centers nationwide serve more than 1 million older adults every day (Senior Centers: Fact Sheet, 2015). Nationwide statistics indicate that the majority (70%) of senior center participants are women; half of them live alone. The most participants are Caucasian, followed by African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians respectively. The average age of participants is 75. The majority visit their center one to three times per week and spend there on average 3.3 hours per each visit. Contrary to the nationwide data, the majority (90%) of participants at WTSC are Hispanic, followed by African Americans, Caucasians and lastly Asians. Since many of the participants do not speak English, the classes and activities are translated simultaneously to Spanish. Similarly to the nation’s
The Older Americans Act (OAA) funds critical services that keep older adults healthy and independent—services like meals, job training, senior centers, caregiver support, transportation, health promotion, benefits enrollment, and more. The Act is overdue for reauthorization—and Congress needs to seize this opportunity to update and renew its commitment to these programs and those they serve. To ensure America’s aging population is able to maintain and live healthy lives provisions are needed to the current OAA. These provisions include:
There are many services which are available to the elderly population, these services are usually provided to
Policy changes are needed in order to provide senior citizens with a safe, quality living environment free from abuse. Changes at federal, state, and local governments are needed to provide the best possible support and series to the aging population. With the significant increase of older Americans their likelihood of being taken advantage of and mistreated has risen a great amount. This vulnerable population does not deserve this kind of treatment. We need to be doing whatever it takes to provide these people with quality health care to ensure safety and good quality of life. This means increasing funding, continuing education for providers and other related professions, harsher punishments for violators, and strict laws requiring background checks and health assessments before being allowed to care for an elderly person.
census discloses that the county age group is rapidly increasing and the trend will continue grow from a 99,086 to 140,000 by the year 2030 (Maryland Department of Aging, 2014). Research has shown that social inequalities are inter-reliant in the society and the impacts on health are present in all ages, however, it is predominant with the seniors leaving in the community. As it indicates, to reduce these disparities, it requires multi-interventional and collaborative approaches in addressing the various factors of health, it services and it cost. Although the United States has had some effective policies and few good health programs, however, providing a stable and adequate income for most of the seniors and providing a good public health care system goes a long way in improving their health and also increasing life expectancy. Much can and should be done to reduce inequalities that exist among the seniors and public health should take led in addressing the various aspect that affects the seniors. This paper has discussed the barriers to healthcare among the seniors and it has provided innumerable recommendations that would help improve their
Casa Central, a multiservice and multicultural organization established in 1954, serving the community but primarily focus on Hispanic community. Its main goal is to change the life and improve the individuals toward a self-sufficiency and higher quality of life through the children and youth, individuals and families, and seniors programs. Casa Central provides significant impact on the well-being of the community through the senior program for the Adult Wellness Center (AWC). AWC is a center-based care for older adults that provide many fun and therapeutic activities that allow older adults to maintain their physical, emotional, and cognitive well-being. Some of the activities that AWC offers to the older adults include cultural exchange,
In 2015, the U. S. Census Bureau projected an increase in the number of elderly people to be 14.7% and to exceed 20% by 2030. With a projected U.S. population of 351 million by 2030, the number of persons aged 65 years and over is estimated to rise to over 70 million people, which is more than twice the amount in 2000 (Spitzer, Newman & Holden, 2004). As the nation experiences unprecedented growth in the older adult population, the provision of long-term care services and housing for older adults has emerged as an increasingly urgent public policy issue. One of the central views of the assisted living community is that as changes occur in the health status of older adults, residents choose supportive services that allow them to remain in their homes and thereby "age in
The access to health care in the U.S. is very important now than ever; there are more senior citizens that require more health care coverage. Long-term care is providing health care services to an individual for more than 90 days. Long-term care has grown over the last couple of years and will continue to grow. Long-term care isn’t just for senior citizens, but also for people with disabilities, children with special needs and veterans. There are many health care services for senior citizens; these facilities are home health care, hospitals, adult day care and nursing homes. I have noticed there are more adult day care facilities that have popped over the last couple years; there are currently six centers that are near my home. My neighbor
The American Society on Aging (ASA) is located at 575 Market St., Suite 2100 San Fransisco, Ca 94105-2869 USA. The purpose of this group is for individuals to come together to help expand upon their knowledge and skills needed to care for the aging population. ASA provides top-notch, nationally recognized training, publications, and education to those who are seeking further knowledge on elderly individuals and caregiving. Every year they host a conference in which people from different professions, including healthcare, philanthropy, and social service come together and expand upon their prior knowledge of aging individuals. Online web seminars are also available and provided by experts from a variety of areas within the study. Becoming a
Fall among elderly population is a global public health problem which remains one of the leading cause of death and disability among older adults. Accidental fall occurs at least once a year among 30-40 percentage of general population over 65 and above. Ten to twenty five percentage of these fall can be resulted in substantial physical injuries. Quality of life can be affected after fall as a result of reduced physical activity and social interaction. During the last decade various intervention programs have been established to prevent or decrease the incidence of fall. Interventions such as exercise program, environmental and pharmaceutical interventions are beneficial in preventing fall among the elderly population (Tousignant, Corriveau,
Huang, Wang & Yang (2012) showed aged who joined centres satisfied with the services, and felt friendly and kinds of other people. Especially, the elderly who joined centres report higher life than elderly from the general population (Huang et al., 2012). Some studies have found that the elderly who participate in centre activities reported that their quality of life and health improve significantly (Chiu & Fu, 2014). Researchers have also assessed centre operations and leadership and found that the mission and commitment of the core management team were critical factors for successful centre operations (Huang, Kuo & Black,
I was kind of surprised to know that today there are nearly 11,000 senior centers who are serving 1 million older adults every day. Indeed, it’s very important organization to empower the elderly. Oxford Senior center was not only limited to offer a wide range of opportunities but the center is also a resource for the entire oxford community, providing services and information on aging, and assisting family and friends who care and show respect for older persons. In addition, the center is also optimally helping to reduce loneliness and depression. As the director of Oxford Senior Center said Oxford Senior Center is facing numerous concern like funding woes, transportation issues, etc. In addition to such issues, I think the questions remain as to how center can attract young older adults who can provide volunteer services and leadership while at the same time responding to the older adults. It is not easy that baby boom generation will identify themselves as old age as previous generations. It seems like young old adults will more likely be in their 65-70 age category as baby boomers will work into their 70s. I think if the senior centers want to attract the younger older adults who are in their 50s to 60s then it will be even more difficult in the future. So, in my perspective creative
Senior Care businesses play a vital role in the lives of the elderly and their families. Service providers support families as they go through periods of distress, uncertainty and change. Through the specialized services that we in the senior care industry provide, we are able to lessen the negative effects of these changes. Most of all, we bring understanding, comfort and fulfillment to our patients and their loved
We have read community assets means to evaluate not only what the older adult offers the community, likewise, we must also consider what the community can offer the older adults (Greene, 2007). Utilizing older adults as community assets in socially engaged roles may prove beneficial by providing an opportunity to increase skills, economic status, education, and professional stature. It provides an opportunity to keep active enhancing physical health, gives them a purpose, increase social connections, and provide leadership opportunities. The aforementioned are examples and avenues to assist with aging well and how community assets are reciprocal.
When we arrived, I was given a tour by the leader of Elderly Outreach Ministries, Corrina, a junior majoring in Bio-Chem. The tour was a little awkward since you have roughly 15 people being herded through a small hallway while they investigate people’s rooms like it is a zoo. We saw the dilapidated halls and occasionally aimlessly wandering elderly person. A few people stopped and talked, yet most kept to themselves outside in the smoking area. I was not expecting
Reviewing the website allow me to learn that this aging website is geared with an abundance of information. This website is geared more toward the individuals that are directly involved in the health and the well-being of the elderly population. Across the top of the website are four drop down menus label: Education, Business, Diversity, and Membership that provides a wealth of information for seniors. ASOA have partnership with the University of Southern California which is the largest and oldest gerontology school in the world, to provide online gerontology courses for professionals that are directly involved in the care of the elderly population they serve. In addition, this website sponsors one of the largest annual conferences in the US on aging. The over 3000 participants at this conference held in Washington, DC on March 20-24, 2016 range from businesses, health care professionals, government agencies, and social services. This conference is all about the training and education of individuals that provided them with innovative skills and information that will improve on the care of the elderly population. Some of the sponsors of this event was AARP, USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, and