Age-Friendly Ecosystems with Terry Fulmer & Amy Berman

Age-Friendly Ecosystems For decades, advocates have called for communities, neighborhoods, and organizations like hospitals to become more "age-friendly." Although the idea of an age-friendly society has been promoted both locally and internationally, adoption remains more aspirational than an organized practice. In this week's episode of This Is Getting Old, Dr. Terry Fulmer and Amy Berman walk us through an overview of what it means to have created an Age-Friendly Ecosystem. Part One of 'The Age-friendly Ecosystems'. The John A. Hartford Foundation has been working with the Age-Friendly Foundation to convene leaders of these age-friendly movements. The goal is to help make the "age-friendly" moniker clear to all stakeholders in terms of what it means. At the George Washington University’s Center for Aging, Health, and Humanities, we have adapted the Age-Friendly Ecosystem to include Arts & Creativity.’ What Exactly Is an Age-friendly Ecosystem? An Age-Friendly Ecosystem refers to the collective of all efforts to adapt society to meet older adults' needs. In simpler terms, Age-Friendly Ecosystems are the comprehensive, collectively built, and ever-expanding platform whose goal is to improve older adults' quality of life through enhanced, collective impact. Moreover, understanding the Age-Friendly Ecosystem draws on the social-ecological model that acknowledges the connections and interplay between older adults and their environments or contexts. Proponents of the Age-friendly Ecosystem Movement The Age-Friendly Ecosystem is a movement to create age-friendly cities and communities started by the World Health Organization and carried forward by AARP (American Association of Retired Persons). The John A. Hartford Foundation (JAHF) launched the Age-Friendly Health Systems movement with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in 2017 to ensure the specific needs of older adults are met in health care. JAHF in 2018 then collaborated with the Trust for America's Health (TFAH) to involve public health agencies to expand the implementation of the age-friendly guidelines to the public health domain, acknowledging that these programs, notwithstanding their goals, have remained constrained and siloed. Many other organizations are advancing initiatives to make universities and businesses age-friendly. The Goals and Objectives of Age-Friendly Ecosystems The goal of Age-Friendly Ecosystems has been to help make the "age-friendly" moniker clear to all stakeholders regarding what it means and how it should be adapted. The work is leading to developing a common language and shared metrics so that anyone can recognize it and know what should be expected when we say "age-friendly." By working together across silos, different age-friendly initiatives can maximize their collective impact. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT WWW.MELISSABPHD.COM/PODCAST-BLOG