Greater Richmond Age Wave
Greater Richmond Age Wave
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Best Practices

Engage in a webinar
Mental Health and Aging Training Initiative 
This webinar series addresses mental health issues as they specifically relate to older adults. It includes archived webinars, but stay tuned for upcoming webinars. http://worldeventsforum.blogspot.com/

Alz Possible 
This site hosts a range of webinars related to Alzheimer's and other dementias. It includes archived webinars, but stay tuned for upcoming webinars. http://alzpossible.org/webinars-2/

Academic Research

The Language of Ageism: Why We Need to Use Words Carefully?
Language carries and conveys meaning which feeds assumptions and judgments that can lead to the development of stereotypes and discrimination. As a result, this study closely examined the specific language that is used to communicate attitudes and perceptions of aging and older adults.

the_gerontologist-2015-gendron-geront-gnv066.pdf
File Size: 569 kb
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The Older Dominion Partnership

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The Older Dominion Partnership (ODP), was an enterprising non-profit organization working to better prepare Virginia for the major impact caused by the aging population boom. In 2011, ODP released the results of a statewide survey which examines seniors views on Baby Boomers aging in the Commonwealth. For more information download the Executive Summary, Statewide Indicator Report, Planning District 15 final report, and ODP Press Release.

Older Dominion Partnership Press Release
File Size: 189 kb
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Planning District 15 Report
File Size: 1903 kb
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Statewide Indicators Report
File Size: 1886 kb
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Executive Summary
File Size: 528 kb
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Scorecard see pages 7-15 of the Strategic Update 
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Regional Scorecard: Links and Resources
Measuring age-friendliness is an important but elusive goal. In order to be able to assess your success, therefore, it is important to define proxy measures that enable you to demonstrate progress toward making your community more age-friendly. Of course,the work is multifactorial and differentiating between broad, system-
wide change and a more discrete measure of project-based success will be critical. If you have developed baseline measures as part of an initial community assessment (e.g., through the use of the AdvantAGE Initiative
survey), repeating all or part of that assessment can help you understand what has changed and what hasn’t since you began your efforts.

Grantmakers in Aging (GIA)
AGING POWER TOOLS: A CURATED SELECTION OF RESOURCES TO PROMOTE STRONGER, AGE-FRIENDLY COMMUNITIES |17


















I. Some Best Practices
 County Health Rankings
The County Health Rankings & Roadmaps program is a collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and helps communities create solutions by focusing on specific factors that affect health, such as education and income. Having health insurance and quality health care are important to health, but leadership and action are needed beyond health care.
Ranking the health of nearly every county in the nation, the County Health Rankings illustrates what is known
when it comes to making people sick or healthy. Measurement tool is included in the Greater Richmond Age
Wave Plan
 pages 42-43.

Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index
The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index provides an in-depth, real-time view of Americans' well-being, giving governments, communities, employers and health plans unmatched insight into the health of their populations. The Well-Being Index includes topics like life evaluation, physical and emotional health, health behaviors, work environment, and basic access. Gallup and Healthways have built the world’s largest data set on well-being, with 1.9 million completed surveys to date, to support their mutual goals of understanding and improving the well-being of individuals and populations. Gallup and Healthways have developed a comprehensive and definitive source of well-being measurement, the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being 5. The scientific survey instrument and reporting experience measures, tracks and reports on the well-being of individuals and organizations.
Five essential elements of well-being are:
» Purpose: Liking what you do each day and being moti
vated to achieve your goals
» Social: Having supportive relationships and love in your life
» Financial: Managing your economic life to reduce stress and increase security
» Community: Liking where you live, feeling safe and having pride in your community
» Physical: Having good health and enough energy to get things done daily

Milken Institute Best Cities for Successful Aging
Measuring relative levels of age-friendliness can be difficult because of limited and varying metrics, but a recent ranking from the Milken Institute Best Cities for Successful Aging makes anotable attempt. It measures and ranks the performance of 359 U.S. metropolitan areas in promoting and enabling successful aging, examining 78 factors that most affect seniors’ quality of life, including health care, crime rates, weather, economic and job conditions, housing, transportation, and social engagement. The Index includes two sets of overall rankings: one for the 100 most populous metropolitan areas and another for the next 259 medium and smaller cities.

Stanford Center on Longevity and the MetLife Mature Market Institute
Livable Community Indicators for Sustainable Aging in Place, from the Stanford Center on Longevity and the MetLife Mature Market Institute, sets out assessment measures, along a variety of community dimensions, each correlated to data sources readily available to funders and local governments.

The Advantage Initiative
The AdvantAge Initiative is housed in the Visiting Nurse Service of New York Center for Home Care Policy and Research. The initiative helps counties, cities, and towns prepare for the growing number of older adults who are "aging in place" while creating livable communities for people of all ages. AdvantAge communities track their progress against a set of 33 indicators of elder-friendliness. There is a full indicators report.

World Health Organization
Age-friendly city features is based on results of the WHO Global Age-Friendly Cities project consultation in 33 cities in 22 countries. The Global Age-friendly Cities Guide and check list outlines a framework for assessing the “age-friendliness” of a city. A core aspect of this approach was to include older people as active participants in the process. The guide identifies eight domains of city life that might influence the health and quality of life of older people: 1.outdoor spaces and buildings; 2. transportation; 3. housing; 4. social participation; 5. respect and social inclusion; 6. civic participation and employment; 7. communication and information; and 8. community support and health services.

II. Local Resources
The Virginia Atlas of Community Health
The Virginia Atlas of Community Health is an online source of community health indicators for Virginia. The Atlas also provides a platform for creating and interacting with maps of community health indicators at various geographic levels. The purpose of the Atlas is to support the work of Virginians engaged in the vital work of improving the health of our communities. 

SportsBackers 
Sports Backers produce and support nationally recognized quality sporting events and programs
that motivate locals and visitors alike to be more active and transform greater Richmond into
the most physically active community in the nation by leading the area in embracing and celebrating an active lifestyle. Development of the Active RVA region fitness scorecard.


III. Other Evaluation Resources and Examples
Marin County Foundation
The Use of Outcome Measurement by Providers Serving Older Adults in Marin County, from the Marin County Foundation describes a mixed methods assessment process that “established a foundation to understand the practices and capacities of service providers, conducting an outcome evaluation and providing recommendations for both service providers and funders.”

The Niagara Planning and Research Council
Niagara Age-Friendly Community Initiative: Year 1 Evaluation Report from the Niagara Planning
and Research Council summarizes goals and achievements of the project, and provides 
recommendations for future actions, based on lessons learned from the pilot year activity. A
good example of an interim assessment to guide ongoing efforts.

United Hospital Fund
NORC Blueprint: A Guide to Community Action offers a Process Evaluation Planning Checklist in
addition to a number of other planning tools and resources for evaluation and tracking.

IV. Importance of shared measurements
*Add academic and health care expertise to monitor, evaluate and track movement of this initiative (in alignment with other regional initiatives) across the broader community. Both locally, regionally and even statewide.
*Build out capacity to continue to educate broader community and State about opportunities and regional needs (i.e. workforce shortages in elder care) and share alignment with various community partners to better meet community (and statewide) needs
*To align direct care and social service sectors work to common shared measurement (tool) around quality of life and vital aging


 Indicators used to create Scorecard
Click to Download
2014_indicators_list.pdf
File Size: 201 kb
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Statewide Age Wave Planning 

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Age Wave Planning is not only taking place in the Richmond region, but across the state of Virginia. For more information on Statewide Age Wave Planning click to download the Age Wave Leadership Forum Report and Age Wave Planning Summary. 

Statewide Age Wave Planning Leadership Forum Report
File Size: 342 kb
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Statewide Age Wave Forum Summary
File Size: 95 kb
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Managing Partners

See what's happening in your area

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Richmond
Powhatan
New Kent
Henrico

Hanover
Goochland
Chesterfield
Charles City


Virginia Commonwealth University   |   College of Health Professions - Department of Gerontology
Phone: 804-828-1565   |   Fax: 804-828-5259