Educational Forums
Raising awareness of the changing views on aging is another positive contribution Mercy Care makes to help community leaders understand the need to create “aging friendly communities.” Promoting older adults’ health, independence, well-being, and participation make for healthy and vibrant neighborhoods, which serve the interests of all citizens in our Adirondack towns and villages.
Bringing national and state experts on Aging topics to the Adirondacks helps to ease the sometimes professional isolation experienced by too many agency and professional staff in the Adirondacks.
Mercy Care for the Adirondacks hosts presentations and education programs and advocates for the needs of elders living in their communities so that they might age in place more successfully.
| Topic | Presenter |
|---|---|
| Creativity and Aging—Promoting Elder-friendly Communities | Gene D. Cohen, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Center on Aging, Health & Humanities at George Washington University |
| Communities for All Ages | Nancy Z. Henkin, Ph.D., Founder and Executive Director of the Intergenerational Learning Center at Temple University |
| Transformative Aging | Sr. Ann Billard, Ph.D |
| Aging in Place | Susan Hunter, Ph.D., Senior Associate, IDEA Center, State University of New York at Buffalo |
| From Isolation to Integration--Helping Elders Stay Connected to Their Communities. | Msgr. Charles Fahey |
| Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging | Lenard W. Kaye, D.S.W., Ph.D., Director of the UMaine Center on Aging |
| Building Your Personal Independence Plan to Age in Place Successfully | Greg Olsen, Deputy Director for the Division of Policy Management and Public Information for the New York State Office for the Aging |
| Aging in Place in your Own Home | Jonathan White, Architectural Research & Design Associate, Center for Inclusive Design & Environment Access, University of Buffalo |
| Harnessing the Power of the Built Environment to Enable Older Adults to Age in Place Successfully | Esther Greenhouse, Environmental Gerontologist |
| Building a Stronger Voice for Crafting Livable Communities in Rural, Small-town Settings | Richard Iannello, Director of the Albany Guardian Society, and Michael Burgess, Senior Policy Consultant for New York StateWide Senior Action Council |
| Aging, Longevity, and the Law | Robert Abrams, Esq., Vera Prosper, PhD, Senior Policy Analyst with the New York State Office for the Aging |
| Elder Caregiving in Rural Communities | Linda Davis, RN, PhD, ANP, FAAN, Ann Henshaw Gardiner Professor of Nursing at Duke University |
| Kinship Care: Grandparents, relatives, friends raising children Challenges, Rights, Resources | Gerald Wallace, Esq. Director of New York State Kinship Navigator Public Service Professor, University at Albany, School of Social Welfare |
| Collaboration and Partnership: Recommendations, strategies, and discussion: How to achieve a sustainable and replicable system of long term care services in the Eastern Adirondacks | Linda Spokane, Vice President for Research & Analytics | Cheryl Udell, Community Services Policy Analyst LeadingAge New York |
| The Times They Are a Changing: Challenges of Rural Aging | Ann Monroe, President, Health Foundation for Western and Central New York and Board Chair, Grantmakers in Aging |
| Connectivity, Caregiver Support, and Workforce Evolution: Policy Solutions for a Graying Rural New York | Laura J. Palmer, AARP New York, Associate Director |
| Economic Security for Older Adults | Ron Deutsh, Executive Director, Fiscal Policy Institute; Maria Alvarez, Executive Director, New York StateWide Senior Action Council; Adam McNeill, Financial Planning Association; Laura Ehrich, Associate Director, AARP New York |
| The Economic Case for Aging-Friendly Communities | John Feather, Ph.D., CEO, Grantmakers in Aging; Greg Olsen, Acting Director, New York State Office for the Aging |