- 303 Haggar College Center
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN 46556
(574) 284-4579 - Director of Media Relations
Gwen O'Brien
gobrien@saintmarys.edu
Press Release
Social Work Department to Host Meeting on Improving Communities for the Aging
Contact:
Gwen O’Brien
Director of Media Relations
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, Ind.
(574) 284-4579
April 24, 2009 (Notre Dame, Ind.)– The Social Work Department at Saint Mary's College and REAL Services Area 2 Agency on Aging will host a daylong meeting on campus on Tuesday, April 28 called “Developing Lifespan Communities in Urban & Rural Indiana.” Area 2 is made up of St. Joseph, Elkhart, Marshall, Kosciusko and LaPorte counties and community leaders from the counties will attend. The event will discuss how communities can become friendlier to the aging population. The event will take place in Stapleton Lounge in Le Mans Hall from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. The media is invited to cover the event.
Indiana communities developed at a time when there were less elderly people in the population. As human lifespan has lengthened, and as the baby boomer generation approaches 65, communities have opportunities to update their services and policies. While most U.S. communities have no research data to guide such changes, Indiana’s 92 counties have data from the AdvantAge survey, funded in 2008 by the state’s Family and Social Service Administration. The survey assessed each county’s housing, transportation, planning and zoning ordinances, health and supportive services, culture, civic engagement and lifelong learning opportunities, and public safety issues to see how these dimensions of community life can be adapted to meet the needs of community members of all ages.
Dr. JoAnn Burke, chair of the Department of Social Work at Saint Mary’s College, is leading a four-year project with her students that will examine the survey results of one urban county and one rural county (St. Joseph and Tipton counties) and create blueprints for the communities to move toward change. “Our communities were built for a young population,” Burke said. “Housing, transportation, education, and recreation need to be modernized to make them more livable for people of all ages.”
Burke will open Tuesday’s event with an overview of the project, followed at 10:45 a.m. by a talk given by Sandy Markwood, chief executive officer for the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging. This nationally recognized speaker has 25 years of experience in the development and delivery of aging health programs across the nation.
In addition to leaders from Area 2’s five county service area, leaders from Tipton County and the Area 5 Agency on Aging (of which Tipton County is a part) will attend. The Third Age Design Team from the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, which focuses on continued vitality in one's later years, will also be at the meeting.
For more information on the project and Tuesday’s event, click to visit the Department of Social Work’s Web page.
About Saint Mary’s College: Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Ind., is a four-year, Catholic, women’s institution offering five bachelor’s degrees and more than 30 major areas of study. The College has six nationally accredited academic programs: social work, art, music, teacher education, chemistry and nursing. Saint Mary's College ranks among the nation's top liberal arts colleges in U.S. News & World Report's 2009 annual survey. Founded in 1844, Saint Mary’s is a pioneer in the education of women, and is sponsored by the Sisters of the Holy Cross.
About REAL Services: REAL stands for Resources for Enriching Adult Living. REAL Services has the responsibility of planning, developing, implementing and administering a network of services that are of high standards, are known, available and used by older adults and low income households in north central Indiana based on their age and/or economic status. For more information, go to http://www.realservicesinc.com/.
