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Services to Older Adults

Reference, Services to Immigrants & Non-English Speakers, Services to Older Adults
Connecticut Money School: free financial courses
February 2nd, 2010 | Permalink | Comment?

Alert your patrons! The Connecticut Money School (CMS) provides free, volunteer-led financial education courses for adults in Connecticut.

The current course listings include these topics:

Debt, Saving, Credit, Loans, Health Care, Homeownership, Senior Issues, and State Benefits.

And are offered in these communities:

Bridgeport, Darien, Fairfield, Hartford, New Haven, Norwalk, North Branford, Orange, West Haven, and Westport.

Connecticut Money School (CMS) is a project of the Connecticut Association for Human Services (CAHS) and five nonprofit partners.
Breaking News from DLD, CT Library Community, Children and Youth Services, Grants and Reimbursements, Libraries and Technology, Library Development, Services to Immigrants & Non-English Speakers, Services to Older Adults
LSTA Grant Program
November 18th, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

The Connecticut State Library is pleased to announce the availability of approximately $125,000 in Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funding for grants in seven categories. Program grant awards will range between $3,000 and $25,000.

See the LSTA page for applications, deadline, workshop information, program categories, and application guidelines.

LSTA funds are provided through the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute’s mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas.
CT Library Community, Grants and Reimbursements, Services to Older Adults
Middletown’s Russell Library wraps successful grant project
November 1st, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

The Russell Library in Middletown wrapped up a six-month grant project from the folks behind the Family Caregiving 101 web site with cookies and a program. The Russell was one of four CT libraries to receive grants in this opportunity.

Read about the Russell’s program in WebJunction CT’s Grants discussion section.
Services to Older Adults
Safe + Sound: Webinar on How to Prevent Medication Mishaps
October 29th, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?
Safe & Sound: How to Prevent Medication Mishaps – A National Family Caregivers Month Event

Bad reactions to medications result in 100,000

deaths a year. Don’t let your loved one become a statistic!

If you are caring for a loved one who is;
- Elderly
- Taking multiple medications
- Seeing more than one doctor, or
- Suffering from multiple illnesses
…your loved one may be at risk. What can a Family Caregiver do?

Join this FREE webinar to find out. Thursday, November 12, 2009 2:00 – 3:00 PM Eastern Time

You will find answers to these and other questions:
- Why should I learn how to prevent medication errors and events
- When are medication problems most likely to occur
- What can I do to minimize risks associated with medications
- How can I help my loved one be more adherent to medication regimens
- How can I prevent medication problems at the hospital
- How can I prevent medication problems at the doctor’s office
- How can I use my community pharmacist as a resource
For More Information email: Teleclass@thefamilycaregiver.org or call 1-800-896-3650.

Grant funding for the development, transmission and promotion of this learning experience provided by
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation with additional support provided by * Intel Digital Health Group * Eisai Inc. * Home Instead Senior Care *National Association of Chain Drug Stores Foundation *Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association * Genworth Financial * Health Services for Children with Special Needs, Inc. * AMERIGROUP Foundation

National Family Caregivers Month is proclaimed every November as a time to thank, support, educate and empower everyone providing care to loved ones with chronic ailments, disabilities or the frailties of old age.
Services to Older Adults
10/22 Webinar: Economic Downturn’s Impact on Family Caregivers
October 20th, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

October 22 Webinar: Economic Downturn’s Impact on Family Caregivers

The next NCOA/IlluminAge Healthy Aging Briefing Series webinar features Gail Hunt, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC).

It is scheduled for Thursday, October 22, from 1:30 to 2:20 p.m. Eastern Time.

For over a decade, the NAC has had as part of its core mission research on caregiving and family caregivers: who’s providing care; what challenges do they face; what trends are emerging that the wider aging services and caregiver support network needs to be aware of.

In this especially timely presentation, Gail Hunt will report on The National Alliance for Caregiving’s recent survey, Economic Downturn and Its Impact on Family Caregiving.

If your organization serves family caregivers, this is a unique opportunity to participate in a briefing covering current research findings. You’ll also have an opportunity to ask questions and participate in an exchange of views on what the survey data indicate and what today’s economic realities mean for community-based caregiver support programs.

Register here. The webinar is free, and attendance is first come, first served.

Next month on November 19, 1:30PM ET, the presenter will be Cynthia R. Green, Ph.D, President of Memory Arts, LLC who will speak on community programs and best practices in promoting brain health.
Services to Older Adults
Growing Old in America: Expectations vs. Reality
October 2nd, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

This Pew Research Center survey investigated people’s perceptions about aging, finding that older adults experienced fewer of the negative benchmarks of old age (illness, memory loss, depression) than younger adults reported that they expect to happen as they grow old.
However, older adults also reported having fewer of the expected benefits of old age, such as having more time for hobbies or traveling more.

Other highlights of the study include:
•    60% of adults 65 and older say they feel younger than their age.
•    45% of adults 75 and older report that their life has turned out better than they expected (5% stated that it turned out worse than they expected).
•    70% of older adults 65 and older say that they have more time with their family.
•    80% of adults aged 65 and older reported reading a book, magazine, or newspaper daily.

The full, 152-page report lives here at the Pew Social & Demographic Trends site.

The report also highlights regional differences, including that older adults from the western part of the US reported feeling younger and healthier than those from other parts of the country, and that 63% of respondents from the northeast and the south reported getting more respect as they aged.
Services to Immigrants & Non-English Speakers, Services to Older Adults
Ready America
August 17th, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

Ready America, part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is an “advertising campaign designed to educate and empower Americans to prepare for and respond to emergencies … The goal of the campaign is to get the public involved and ultimately to increase the level of basic preparedness across the nation.”

It has a kids section at and a Spanish site.

Because September is National Preparedness Month, you might hear more about Ready in the media. The overall goal is to have individuals do three key things: get an emergency supply kit, make a family emergency plan, and be informed about the different types of emergencies that could occur and their appropriate responses.

You can download ready.gov publications, and current content includes sections on preparedness for older Americans, military families, pet owners, and people with disabilities and special needs. Toll-free telephone numbers are 1-800-BE-READY and 1-888-SE-LISTO.

Connecticut has its own department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.

Many towns and libraries have registered themselves (here) with Ready America, which gives access to a 51-page how-to manual on promoting disaster preparedness, posters, logos, a PowerPoint presentation, and web banners.
Services to Older Adults
The Healing Powers of Public Gardens
August 6th, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

The Healing Powers of Public Gardens

Because visitors to the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach, Florida, have for years said that they find the garden to be a ‘relaxing place’ that provides them with ‘inner peace,’ officials decided to back it up with some data.

Working with the nearby Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing at Florida Atlantic University, the project, “The Effect of Public Garden Visitation on Mild Depression in the Elderly” was awarded a $110,283 National Leadership Grant for Museums from IMLS for this project, measured the gardens’ health effects on the 40 percent of visitors aged 65+ experiencing mild depression.

The Morikami encompasses 16 acres and offers a series of six unique gardens incorporating vegetation, water, islands, and boulders, and constructed features such as gates, bridges, and stone lanterns.

Three types of approach were studied, and all significantly reduced depression in subjects. When visitors toured the gardens in a way that incorporated guided imagery, however, a greater increase in ‘positive emotion word-use’ when compared to others was shown.
Breaking News from DLD, Grants and Reimbursements, Services to Older Adults
Wintonbury Branch Success Story
July 28th, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

Mara Whitman, librarian at the Wintonbury Branch of the Prosser Public library, was one of four awardees of grants from the Family Caregiving 101 web site (funding provided by the National Family Caregivers Association and the National Alliance for Caregiving). Other winners included Middletown’s Russell Library, the Voluntown Public Library, and the Brainerd Memorial Library of Haddam.

Mara’s grant activities so far have included sponsoring a support group, obtain books, and acquire computer equipment in order to demonstrate what support and resources the internet can provide for family caregivers.

Read more about the support group here.

Mara Whitman
Grants and Reimbursements, Services to Older Adults
Weinberg Foundation to Distribute $200 Million Over Next 2 Years
July 17th, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

The Baltimore-based Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation recently announced that it will distribute grants totaling $200 million over the next two years, including $21 million in new grant funds. Last year, the foundation awarded about $106 million to six hundred nonprofits.

For the Fall 2009-Winter 2010 grant cycle, the first step in the time line is to submit a Letters of Inquiry (LOIs), due August 31, 2009.

A 7/16 phone call to the Foundation confirmed that while they have a particular interest in projects that assist financially disadvantaged individuals primarily located in Maryland, Hawaii, Northeast Pennsylvania, New York, Israel, and the FSU, geographical location is not an automatic eliminating factor. In other words, study the program areas carefully and consider applying.

The Foundation focuses grant support in key areas to bolster an organization’s outreach in several programmatic areas of interest to libraries, including:

Older Adults

Workforce Development

General Community Support