Aging in Place Week Event to Coincide with Community Summits
September 4, 2013 Press Release
The National Aging in Place Council announced today that it will conduct a summit of thought-leaders focused on elder Americans in Washington, DC on October 16 to formulate a national policy approach to Aging in Place. Thirty representatives of organizations, associations, institutions, and businesses devoted to the senior sector have been invited to a full day roundtable discussion that will look at housing, healthcare/caregiving, personal finance, transportation, and education/quality of life.
“Aging in Place has become a fairly familiar term,” says Marty Bell, Executive Director of NAIPC. “But beyond the term, what exactly does it mean to people? What does aging in place promise you, offer you? We hope to clarify that.”
The National Summit, the focal event of 2013 Aging in Place Week, will look at the services and resources that are available to seniors who choose to remain in their homes as well as those that are not available and needed, either from government or business.
At the same time, local chapters of NAIPC in cities around the country will conduct Community Summits with local leaders and service providers to assess the age-friendliness of their communities. The template for the community gatherings will be based on the 2012 Milken Institute Report on “The Best Cities for Aging in America” which evaluated Health Care, Wellness, Finance, Employment, Living Arrangements, Transportation and Community Engagement in each American urban area. Thus far, NAIPC chapters in Charleston, the Central Coast of California, and Atlanta are organizing Community Summits.
“We hope to emerge from this year’s Aging in Place week with national and community policy agendas that we can share with other groups concerned with aging Americans with the intent of having rallying tools to bring together many diverse voices into a single, focused national effort to expand awareness of and participation in aging in place, an effort that will benefit both individuals and our society as a whole,” says Bell.
The national summit, to be held at the Resources and Conservation Center in Washington, will pinpoint policies that need advocacy, new programs that need development, and expanded methods of communication. Among the issues on the table is the need for more senior housing, more caregivers, financial education for those who do not have professional financial advisors, adult day care facilities, and more and better transportation options.
Additional information and a schedule of events can be found at ageinplace.org.
NAIPC, a senior service network, currently includes individual members in most states and 17 local chapters in which in-home service providers in a community gather to network and present events to increase awareness of this valuable contemporary approach to senior living.
Contact:
Marty Bell
Executive Director
202-939-1745
mbell@dworbell.com
Ashley Krapacs
Administrator and Policy Associate
202-939-1783
akrapacs@dworbell.com
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