NEW PUBLICATIONS
"The State of 50+ America 2006," by Laurel Beedon, Lisa Southworth. and John Gist (Research Report, January 2006, .pdf format, 56p.) http://www.aarp.org/research/economy/trends/fifty_plus_2006.html
U.S. NATIONAL CENTER FOR HEALTH STATISTICS REPORT: "Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: National Health Interview Survey, 2004" (Vital and Health Statistics Series 10, No. 228, December 2005, .pdf format, 281p.). Note: This is a provisional report. It will be replaced with a final version. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_228.pdf
Nina Silverstein and I have a new book, "Improving Hospital Care for People with Dementia." It is targeted to nurses, physicians, social workers, hospital administrators, and health policy researchers and analysts. It includes chapters written by health care professionals, researchers, and advocates, and it is intended to increase understanding of current practices and problems in hospital care for people with dementia and to describe some promising approaches for improving care and outcomes. It is: Improving Hospital Care for People with Dementia. (N. Silverstein and K. Maslow, eds.) (New York, N.Y.: Springer Publishing Co., 2006)
TRAINING & EDUCATION SCAN Health Plan® in collaboration with the California Geriatric Education Center and the UCLA Academic Geriatric Resource Center, is presenting Geriatric Medicine Leadership Training, a two day highly interactive and intensive conference on leadership, management and mentoring skills for physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, and other health professionals with an interest in geriatrics, internal medicine, family medicine, and long-term care services in either academic or clinical settings. The conference is March 24-25, 2006 in Marina del Rey, Calif. A brochure may be accessed at http://www.geronet.ucla.edu/centers/agrc/GMLT_Brochure_2006.pdf. For further information, please contact Ms. Denise Gutierrez at (310) 312-0531 or dgutierrez@mednet.ucla.edu.
RAND is pleased to announce the 13th annual RAND Summer Institute (RSI). RSI consists of two annual conferences that address critical issues facing our aging population. The MiniMedical School for Social Scientists will be held on July 12-13, and the Demography, Economics, and Epidemiology of Aging conference on July 14-15, 2006. Both conferences will convene at the RAND Corporation headquarters in Santa Monica, Calif. Fill in the application now. (Qualified applicants must hold a PhD or have completed two years of a PhD program and be actively working on a dissertation. Only applicants working in the field of aging ¬ or actively considering this research field ¬ will be considered) ¬ deadline is March 15, 2006. The conferences are sponsored by the National Institute on Aging and the NIH-wide Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research.
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS The APHA Gerontological Health Section offers a number of awards, including student research awards. Prizes include a year's membership in APHA, free annual meeting registration, and $500-$1,000 cash! This year's annual meeting is in Boston; any APHA member can submit. Be sure to mark your APHA abstract submission for award consideration (due in just a few weeks). For more details about the awards go to: http://www.ph.ucla.edu/ghsnet/Call_For_Abstracts_2006_New.htm.pdf. To submit abstracts go to: http://apha.confex.com/apha/134am/oasys.epl.
Abstract submission is now open for the 2006 APHA Annual Meeting. We would like to share with you opportunities with the APHA's Gerontological Health Section. In addition to acceptance of abstracts for scientific and practice-based sessions, APHA's Gerontological Health Section has a variety of awards for researchers and practitioners at all career stages! The Gerontological Health Section offers special AWARDS in several categories: 1) to bachelors/masters students 2) to doctoral students 3) to new investigators (less than five years after completion of a terminal degree) 4) to the best paper on "aging and international research and policy development" 5) to the best paper on "older women and public health" 6) to the best paper on "aging and rural health" 7) to the best paper on "aging and minority health" 8) to the "most innovative program for the elderly" If you wish your abstract to be considered for an award (except for the program innovation award) please indicate so on the abstract submission form.
For submission for the program innovation award, please contact llstorms@ucla.edu . Each abstract can be considered only for one award. You may, however, submit different abstracts to be considered for different awards. The deadline for abstract submission is Feb.16, 2006. To submit an abstract to GHS or to learn more about the abstract submission process: http://apha.confex.com/apha/134am/gh.htm Follow this link to learn more about GHS, to access the call for abstracts, or for more information on the awards. http://www.ph.ucla.edu/ghsnet/. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to e-mail Rachel Seymour (rseymo1@uic.edu) or Kathy Sykes (Sykes.Kathy@epa.gov)
ALMOST HOME BROADCAST
Almost Home-Broadcast Premiere-Feb. 21, 2006 at 10 p.m. ET on PBS
Shot on location in a nursing home, ALMOST HOME tells real stories of aging: couples bonded and divided by disability, children torn between caring for their aging parents and their own families, attendants doing unsavory work for poverty wages and a visionary nursing home director committed to changes that could shuck the nursing home stigma. This e-mail is to let you know that ALMOST HOME has been rescheduled for Tues., Feb. 21, 2006 at 10 pm ET on PBS' Independent Lens Series (check local listings at http://itvs.org/shows/broadcast.htm?showID-1055) due to an unexpected conflict with President Bush's State of the Union address that falls on Jan. 31--the original broadcast date. Also, please know that DVDs of ALMOST HOME and clips from the program may still be obtained free of charge for educators and others in the aging field, while supplies last, by contacting Lauren Burke, laburke@uwm.edu. Please help us spread the word by forwarding this information. Darla Minnich, Program Manager, Grantmakers In Aging, (937) 435-3156, dminnich@GIAging.org
MEMBERSHIP The American Public Health Association's Gerontological Health Section is concerned with the health of and services for older adults. Gerontological Health is a relatively small section: there are plenty of leadership opportunities, as well as direct contact, networking, and friendly interaction with gerontological scholars, practitioners, advocates, and policy-makers nationwide. Gerontological Health Section is among the most active in APHA. In addition to scholarship and practice, our members are active in advocating for promoting the health and improved health care of older adults. Plus, we like to have fun, especially when we gather at the annual meetings where we have a great fundraiser/auction combined with a great reception.
If you aren't already, we would like to invite you to join the Gerontological Health Section. You can join our section by simply reply to me (Gerontological Health Section Membership Committee Chair) at rgoins@hsc.wvu.edu . In your message, please provide your full name. For more information about our Section, you can visit our Web site at http://www.ph.ucla.edu/ghsnet or contact Section Chair Bob Burke, PhD, at hsmreb@gwumc.edu .
In December 2005, an announcement was made that Senator Jeff Bingaman (NM) had been selected as a Distinguished Public Health Legislator of the Year for 2005 by APHA for his lead in the Medicaid reform debates. What a fine choice! I had the great pleasure of working with Senator Bingaman and staff as the John Heinz Senate Fellow in Aging for 2004-2005. The fellowship and the work in the Bingaman office provided an opportunity to blend hands-on policy experience with practice, research, and education within the gerontology community. Public health professionals are vital to the formulation of aging and health policy. Mid-career is a perfect time to pursue this type of an opportunity. I encourage other APHA members to apply for the Heinz Fellowship. For details, visit http://www.hfp.heinz.org/programs/senate_03.html. Best Regards, Nancy L. Falk, BSN, MBA Doctoral Student, George Mason University College of Nursing and Health Science
HELP NEEDED We are looking for someone who would be interested in doing a project involving wellness programs for the workplace. We have all of the pieces of the puzzle except the administration of the program. We actually are working with a board called RCS, a group of research doctors working on the relationship between wellness and chiropractic. Please contact: Mimi Sutherland, RN, MPH, msutherland@edww.com.
OPPORTUNITIES Greetings GH Section Leadership: You have an opportunity to shape the Gerontological Health Annual Meeting program by participating as a reviewer. As a reviewer you also have the opportunity to recommend abstract submitters for one of the eight awards that our Section makes each year. Many of you whom have participated over the years. For those of you who haven't, this is terrific opportunity not to be missed. The abstract review process will occur during the month of March. I would like to invite anyone who has not already agreed to review abstracts for the 2006 reviewer to let Rachel Seymour and me know by Feb. 17. Gerontology Health Section Program Co-Chairs Kathy Sykes, Senior Advisor, Aging Initiative Office of Children's Health Protection US EPA (Mail Code 1107A) 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Room 2512N (Ariel Rios North) Washington, D.C. 20460, (202) 564-3651, FAX (202) 564-2733, http://www.epa.gov/aging, Rachel Seymour, PhD, Center for Research on Health and Aging Institute for Health Research and Policy, University of Illinois Chicago, (828) 478-2213 .
AWARDS & SUCCESS Marcia Ory just received an Award for Excellence in Research at the School of Rural Public Health, given at the The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center Convocation, celebrating Pathways to Excellence 2015. January 24, 2006. College Station, TX. Note New Office Address (as of January 2006) Marcia G. Ory, Ph.D., M.P.H. Professor, Social and Behavioral Health Director, Active for Life National Program Office School of Rural Public Health 1266 TAMU College Station, TX 77843-1266 Phone: (979) 458-1373, E-mail: mory@srph.tamhsc.edu, Active for Life: e-mail: activeforlife@srph.tamhsc.edu, Web: http://www.activeforlife.info, Health Maintenance Consortium Web: http://hmcrc.srph.tamhsc.edu .
AUCTION IN PHILLY A BIG SUCCESS!!!
The GHS Auction/Raffle raised over $4,500 to benefit Hurracane Katrina Relief (a check to the CDC Foundation), and the Weiler Leadership, Cleckley Minority, and GHS Rural Health Awards. Many thanks to the bidders and donors! Faye Wong, Past APHA President, did a creditable job as "celebrity" auctioneer. APHA President-elect Debbie Klein Walker attended and was the successful bidder on several pieces of fine Steuben Glass. Our Auction/Raffle in Boston will have a "historic" and "seafaring" theme. I already have several items of JFK lineage as well as some good silver and art glass/art pottery. If you have donations, or would like to work at the auction, please contact me at GMEggert@Aol.com .
Gerry Eggert Catherine Hawes, PhD and Charles D. Phillips, PhD, MPH of the School of Rural Public Health at Texas A&M were awarded the Public Service Award at the National Citizens Coalition for Nursing Home Reform's 35th Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. The award was in recognition of their research on quality of care for vulnerable individuals and their commitment to and support of citizen advocacy in long-term care.
Catherine Hawes, PhD, at the School of Rural Public Heatlh at Texas A&M was awarded a grant from the National Institute of Justice in the U.S. Department of Justice to support an inquiry into how reports of elder abuse are handled in different states.
Charles D. Phillips, PhD, MPH at the School of Rural Public Health was awarded a contract from the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services to develop an assessment tool for use with individuals receiving Medicaid personal care services and to develop a system for allocating hours of service to these consumers.
Patricia C. Heyn, PhD, was recently recognized as the "American Federation for Medical Research Scholar on Aging Award Winner." Patricia C. Heyn, PhD, Division of Geriatric Medicine/School of Medicine University of Colorado Health Sciences Center 303-315-5278 (office) 303-315-8669 (fax) Patricia.Heyn@UCHSC.edu.
In March, Bob Binstock will be receiving the Hall of Fame Award from the American Society on Aging, for a person “who has, through a lifetime of advocacy and leadership, enhanced the lives of older people.” My sixth edition of the Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences, co-edited with Linda K. George of Duke University, was published in January. The first edition was published in 1975. Bob Binstock, Professor of Aging, Health, and Society School of Medicine, Room WG-43 Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH 44106 phone (216) 368-3717 fax (216) 368-3970.
The Commonwealth Fund and Academy Health Building Bridges: Making a Difference in Long-Term Care 2006 Policy Seminar, which took place on Feb. 8 in Washington, D.C., was a great success. You can view this event as a Kaiser Family Foundation Webcast available at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/healthcast/academyhealth/08feb06 .