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NAIPC® News
November 25, 2014
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In This Week's Issue |
- Thanksgiving Message: The Year We Put on Long Pants
- So Why Did You Join NAIPC?
- Enter Entrepreneurs: High Demand for Aging in Place Professionals
- Seniors Want More Walkable Communities
- Forbes: Some Cities Graying Faster than Others
- Yale Study Indicates Positive Stereotypes Can Improve Senior Health
- Upcoming Events
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Thanksgiving Message: The Year We Put on Long Pants |
At this reflective time of the year, we are both grateful and proud of all that the National Aging in Place Council has accomplished. We will remember this as the year NAIPC grew up. And we are thankful to all of you for supporting the effort.
This was the year in which we redefined Aging in Place as a lifestyle encompassing home, health and wellness, personal finance, transportation, and community.
It was the year in which we designed and launched Act III: Your Plan for Aging in Place so that aging Americans and their families assess their own needs and plan for longer life.
It was a year in which we added almost 150 new members and new chapters in Greater Los Angeles, Greater Pittsburgh, Greater Columbus, Randolph County North Carolina, and Western and Central Virginia.
It was a year in which we began to design and implement new programs dealing with encouraging hiring of seniors, utilizing seniors as mentors to members, building guides for the 50 major cities, creating a corps of retirement concierges. All of these initiatives lay the groundwork for additional growth in an exciting 2015.
So thank you to those of you who have taken on leadership of our local chapters, to those who serve on our Council of Chapters, to the members who participated in our annual meeting and helped us shape the Plan for Aging in Place.
Thank you to our backroom operations staff—Patty Winter, Violet Arthur, Linda Latimore, and Jeri Greaves—those people who handle registration and accounting and taxes and all the things you don’t want to have to think about.
Thank you to Ashley Krapacs for bringing a detonation of youthful energy, great empathy for our membership, and a lawyer’s eagle eye for detail to our daily responsibilities.
We have a lot of great stuff up our sleeves for the coming year. And we look forward to sharing it all with you.
Happy holidays to you and your loved ones,
Marty Bell |
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So Why Did You Join NAIPC? |
In a recent survey, three Charter Members of the Greater Charleston Chapter shared their thoughts on why Aging in Place is important to them and why they chose to join NAIPC. Read their stories below.
Christine Sheffield, The Parent Care Solution
"I have a passion for helping others as they go through the many challenges they face as they age not only because of my 12 years of experience in the field but also because I have personally experienced the stress and financial pain of being a caregiver to first my father in law, my husband, my mother who passed away recently with Alzheimer's Disease and my father who is almost 90. Not many of us will be able to escape the inevitable day that we too become caregivers but at least with organizations like NAIPC we won't have to do it alone or in the dark. If you too want to do more than just make money, if you also want to make a difference and share a piece of your heart and tremendous knowledge about aging issues, you should join us at NAIPC."
Dana Madanski, McAlister-Smith Funeral Home
"Through membership, I will be able to continue the relationships I have made within our local community of aging resource professionals. The professionals I have met in Charleston stay informed of trends in aging concepts and are passionate about ensuring that the community at large is educated about resources needed to age in place. Because of this, I believe we have a responsibility to ensure our voice is part of the conversation on a national level. On a personal level, I want to increase McAlister-Smith's public exposure and also have access to resources outside of my intimate network."
Pam Chambers, CMK Home Care of Charleston
"I’ve joined the Greater Charleston Chapter of NAIPC as a Charter Member because of the value belonging to this National organization. We will learn of more resources available to our community. We will also share ideas with other chapters that may bring more assistance options to our local Seniors. Our vision will broaden."
So why did you join NAIPC? Send us your stories, and we'll feature you in a future issue of NAIPC News.
To learn more about the Greater Charleston Chapter or to apply for membership, click here. |
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Enter Entrepreneurs: High Demand for Aging in Place Professionals |
With the growing trend of Aging in Place and the rapidly increasing senior population in the United States, the need for in home services has never been greater. And with this growing need comes a plethora of opportunities. It's simply economics: supply and demand.
Enter entrepreneurs.
Today's seniors are more dynamic and independent than ever. According to AARP, more than 90% of seniors wish to stay in their homes as they age. But there are a wide range of services that seniors will need to be able to Age in Place, services that have in the past been provided mostly in traditional assisted living and nursing home settings. But with advances in technology and increasing awareness of all that is available, many of these services can easily be provided at home.
A recent article in Next Avenue highlights a few key areas that offer tremendous opportunities for Aging in Place professionals, including transportation, technological support, and meal preparation.
The demand is swelling, but can the supply keep up?
Click here to read the full article.
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Seniors Want More Walkable Communities |
After decades of suburban growth that created mostly neighborhoods where driving is the main (or only) form of transportation, the trend is shifting.
Along with Millennials who aren’t buying cars or even driving, more and more seniors want walkable communities to help them maintain their independence when it’s no longer safe for them to drive.
Marketplace.org recently published a list of 5 easy ways to make any city more walkable. The list includes:
- Maintaining sidewalks so that they are safe
- Providing outdoor seating for seniors to rest
- Adequate time to cross the street at crosswalks
- Well-lit walkways
- Marked bike paths
Small changes can go a long way to making a community more senior-friendly.
To read the full article, click here.
For a more complete list, check out the World Health Organization's "Checklist of Essential Features of Age-friendly Cities." |
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Forbes: Some Cities Graying Faster than Others |
We’ve all heard about the “silver tsunami” and the “graying of America,” but what you might not know is that some cities are graying much faster than others, making the demand for Aging in Place services and providers much greater in some regions.
According to a recent Forbes article, the cities with the highest concentrations of seniors in the overall population are (surprise!) in Florida. Tampa-St. Petersburg ranked #1, Miami came in at #3, and Jacksonville came in at #18. There was also a high concentration of senior-dense cities in the Midwest, including Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Detroit.
But the rates of seniors in various other areas is swelling, not because seniors have chosen to move there; to the contrary, data shows that older Americans are less likely to make a major move than their younger counterparts. It’s occurring as a result of so many baby boomers who relocated in their younger years and have chosen to stay into retirement age. In analyzing the greatest increases in the senior population since 2000, Atlanta ranked #1, Raleigh, N.C. came in at #2, and Austin, Texas ranked #3.
The data isn’t exactly shocking, but it makes clear that certain regions must be more prepared (and sooner prepared) than others to meet the needs of their senior populations.
To read the full article, click here. |
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Yale Study Indicates Positive Stereotypes Can Improve Senior Health |
A recent study conducted by Yale has revealed a major finding: seniors who were exposed to subliminal messaging containing positive stereotypes of aging experienced improved physical function for weeks to follow.
The study was conducted with a group of seniors in the New Haven, CT area who were divided into groups. One group was shown words on a computer screen that promoted a positive stereotype of aging, including “spry” and “creative,” which flashed long enough to be observed but too fast for conscious awareness. The group exposed to these positive stereotypes experienced marked improvements in their physical abilities, improvements that were not observed in the control groups.
Researchers believe that the subliminal messaging worked by first giving the seniors a positive view of aging, which created a positive self-impression in the seniors and resulted in improved physical functioning.
The study conveys an important message: aging doesn’t have to be a bad thing. We’re all going to do it someday. It’s only a negative thing if we allow ourselves to perceive it that way and contribute to the existing negative stereotypes about aging.
Getting old shouldn’t be something we dread; it should be something we embrace and celebrate.
To read more about this study, click here. |
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