Aging Related Resources
- Free Comfort Care Guide
- Continuing Education Opportunities
- Tool Kits for Service Providers
- Funding Opportunities from Other Sources
Free Comfort Care Guide
Alzheimer’s Association-Greater Illinois Chapter
The Alzheimer’s Association-Greater Illinois chapter is offering a free online resource, Encouraging Comfort Care: A Guide for Families of People with Dementia Living in Care Facilities. This 21-page booklet provides useful information to families and staff of long-term care facilities about Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, particularly care issues related to the late and final stages.
For families, this guide will enable them to make informed choices about a variety of medical decisions they may face on behalf of loved ones with dementia living in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and other types of care facilities. It will also equip families to ask good questions aimed at obtaining the best care for their loved ones, including a handy checklist of comfort care measures to be discussed with staff members of care facilities.
For staff members of long-term care facilities, the guide will serve as an important tool for those who wish to educate families and assist them in care planning. Individuals and organizations are encouraged to disseminate this booklet in electronic and print formats.
The Encouraging Comfort Care guide was made possible through a grant from The Retirement Research Foundation and is available at: http://www.alzheimers-illinois.org/pti/comfort_care_guide.asp.
Continuing Education Opportunities
Mather Lifeways, Evanston, Illinois
Gerontology Online
Need continuing education credits? Want to expand your knowledge of gerontology?
Register for Gerontology Online! Six online courses ($1,000 to register for all six) focusing on important topics relating to the aging process, enhancing the skill set of professionals working in the field of Aging, are being offered:
- Concepts of Aging
- Cultural Dimensions of Aging
- Environmental Context of Aging
- Mental Health & Aging
- Interdisciplinary Seminar on Aging
- Interventions with Older Adults
For more information about online courses or to register for Gerontology Online, visit http://www.matherlifeways.com/GerontologyOnlineCourses/ or contact Jon Woodall at (847) 492.6753.
Tool Kits for Service Providers
U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services
Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSA)
New toolkit available:
Promoting Mental Health and Preventing Suicide: A Toolkit for Senior Living Communities
Statistics show that adults age 65 and older have one of the highest suicide rates of any age group in the United States. This new toolkit from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) teaches staff working in senior living communities how to recognize and take steps to help someone at risk of suicide. The ideas presented in this toolkit can help prevent suicides, promote mental health, and create an environment that will enhance the well-being of residents and staff alike.
The Toolkit
- Includes materials to help create and implement policies, protocols, programs, and activities to promote mental health and prevent suicide among older adults.
- Discusses strategies to reduce risk factors and increase protective factors for all residents, regardless of their risk for suicide.
- Focuses on what facilities should do after suicides and suicide attempts.
For more information, visit: http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/publications/allpubs/SMA10-4515/
Funding Opportunities from Other Sources
mHealth Diffusion Grants Program: Accepting Applications
The Center for Technology and Aging is pleased to announce the release of its Mobile Health (mHealth) Diffusion Grants Program. This grant program will provide funding for projects that focus on the adoption and diffusion of mobile health technology-enabled services to improve the health of older adults, while reducing the burden on clinicians and caregivers. As many as six one-year grants will be awarded for up to $100,000 each from the $500,000 grant program. Funded projects are expected to commence in August 2011.
The mHealth Diffusion Grants Program is being released in recognition of the rapidly growing field of mHealth and its significant potential to improve care processes, expand access to care, augment other home care technologies, and reduce the costs of care. For the focus of this initiative, mHealth is broadly defined as the delivery of health-related services to patients, clinicians and caregivers through mobile technology platforms on cellular or wireless networks. Mobile technologies can include, but are not limited to, tablets, cell phones (hardware and software), smartphones, mobile-enabled diagnostic devices, or devices with mobile alert systems.
Grant programs should address how mHealth technologies impact older adults, caregivers and providers, and the benefits related to the treatment of chronic conditions, improvement in socialization and communication, enhanced monitoring, and other care-related issues. mHealth technology-enabled services that can be addressed in this grants program include, but are not limited to, medication compliance, chronic disease monitoring, safety monitoring, and access to health information.
Given the emphasis on diffusion and adoption, programs seeking grants must describe their plans for scalability of the project in alignment with current and emerging care and business models.
Letters of Intent are due April 5, 2011. Please consult the Grant Application Guidelines and http://www.techandaging.org/ for more information about the grant program and the Center’s upcoming initiatives.
AoA Announces Transitional Research Grants for Community-based Aging Services Providers
The Administration on Aging (AoA) and the National Institute on Aging (NIA) are pleased to announce a joint initiative to support moving evidence-based research findings towards the development of new interventions, programs, policies, practices, and tools that can be used by community-based organizations to help elderly individuals remain healthy and independent, and living in their own homes and communities. The mission of AoA is to develop a comprehensive, coordinated system of services and supports at the community level that helps elderly individuals maintain their health and independence in their homes and communities. NIA has long been the primary sponsor of research in social and behavioral sciences on the processes of aging at both the individual and societal levels.Translating research knowledge into practical advances to benefit the health and well being of older Americans has increasingly become a priority for both agencies. Although there is some adoption of translated, evidence-based interventions into practice, it has been limited and few evidence-based interventions have been brought to scale nationwide. This program announcement encourages applications that focus on the translation of behavioral and social research in aging into the development of new interventions that can be used by community-based organizations that assist elderly individuals.
Collaborations between academic research centers and community-based organizations with expertise serving the elderly are a top priority. Partnerships of this nature will enhance our understanding of practical tools, techniques, programs and policies that communities across the nation can use to more effectively respond to needs of their aging populations. The two funding announcements can be found on the NIH website at:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-11-123.html