Greetings and best wishes for a healthy and productive 2008!
Thank you to everyone who assisted in organizing and who participated this past November in the APHA Annual Meeting. The Gerontological Health Section (GHS) sponsored 31 scientific sessions at the meeting, with topics ranging from healthy communities and active aging to long term care. At our Awards Session, GHS recognized 14 individuals and organizations as recipients of an award for their research or program innovation related to older adults, as well as recipients of our Lifetime Achievement and Leadership Awards. Thank you to Rachel Seymour, Jan Warren-Findlow and Kathy Sykes for organizing our program. As Awards Co-Chairs, Janet Frank and Caryn Etkin coordinated the selection of award recipients for our numerous Section awards. Many Section members organized the review of individual awards, reviewed manuscripts for awards, and reviewed abstracts for the scientific sessions. Bob Burke, Gerry Eggert, Caryn Etkin and Turner Goins organized special dinners and luncheons for new members, as well as award recipients.
This year the Section held its eighth Silent Action and Raffle. To date, over $40,000 has been raised through this event to support endowments of Section Research Awards. Thank you to Gerry Eggert, Brenda Wamsley, Deanna Lewis, Larry Branch, Susan Kwak and Denise Gutiezzez for organizing and assisting with this event.
There have been many responses to the request that went out early in January to participate on committees and in the work of the Section. Thank you to everyone who has expressed an interest in becoming more active with the Section. If you have yet to respond, this newsletter includes another call for volunteers. Increasing our policy focus, engaging students and new members and increasing membership are just a few of the activities in which you can participate.
As you may know, this year GHS will celebrate its 30th anniversary as a Section of APHA at our Annual Meeting this Oct. 25-29 in San Diego. A Formative History, describing the formation of our Section, as well as highlights of our 30 years as a Section, is available on the GHS Web site. As we look forward to celebrating our anniversary, I welcome any suggestions you might have for sessions and events at our Annual Meeting in October.