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Ripples

The e-Newsletter of the Geriatric Social Work Initiative (GSWI)
Volume 6, Issue 7
November 29, 2007

Welcome to Ripples, an e-newsletter designed to keep interested deans and directors, faculty members, students, practitioners and others informed about the work of the Geriatric Social Work Initiative (GSWI).  We welcome your feedback and encourage you to contribute any story ideas, stories, resources, news and other content to subsequent issues of the newsletter. To make a contribution, please contact Joe Hayes at jhayes@geron.org.  If you have been forwarded this newsletter by a colleague and would like to subscribe, please reply to this e-mail and type the word “subscribe” in the subject line. Please be sure to visit our website at www.gswi.org.

In this Issue...
Announcements
Research & News
Funding Opportunities
Resources

Announcements

Congratulations to the following people...

Frances Mills, of the University of South Carolina, who recently successfully defended her dissertation!

Amy L. Ai, PhD, for being awarded Fellow status in the American Psychological Association!

Bryan Ford (Hartford Doctoral Fellow) and his colleagues, for earning 3rd place for the Best Paper of the Year Award with their work entitled "SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) and STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) Programs: The Private Sector, Public Sector and University Trifecta"at the SRA International Annual Meeting!

Dr. Fengyan Tang, of the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work (Cohort VII Scholar), for being awarded the 2007 Civic Engagement in an Older America Paper Award (Junior/Scholar level) from the Gerontological Society of America!

GSA Announces New Hartford Program Administrative Assistant
The Gerontological Society of America is pleased to share that the Hartford Program has a new staff member. Malik Guy joined the GSA team in early November. Malik comes to GSA with over 5 years of administrative experience, conference coordination and event planning in both Washington, D.C. and New York City, where he worked with the advertising company Ogilvy & Mather. Welcome Malik!

Research & News

First CSWE APM Gero-Ed Track is a Success
The CSWE Gero-Ed Center welcomed 150 presenters from 80 social work education programs, 13 community organizations and representing three countries to the first CSWE Annual Program Meeting (APM) Gero-Ed Track, held in San Francisco October 27-30, 2007.  Highlights included the Gero-Ed Track Kick-Off with keynote speaker Marc Freedman; the Gero-Ed Center/AGE-SW Joint Event and Reception featuring a hot topic panel on civic engagement; the CSWE Career Center-sponsored panel for doctoral students interested in gerontology; and the 2nd Annual Film Festival.

Another highlight was the student poster session, which showcased the work of gero-interested social work students.  We congratulate Christopher E. Bargeron, College of St. Catherine and University of St. Thomas, and Hartford Doctoral Fellow (Cohort V) Nancy Giunta, University of California at Berkeley, on winning the 2007 Anita Rosen Gerontology Awards for Outstanding Student Poster.  For more information on this year’s Rosen Award winners and the other Gero-Ed Track events, please visit our Web site: www.Gero-EdCenter.org

Elder Abuse: A Growing Concern
Each year hundreds of thousands of older persons are abused, neglected, and exploited by family members and others. Many victims are people who are older, frail, and vulnerable and cannot help themselves and depend on others to meet their most basic needs. Legislatures in all 50 states have passed some form of elder abuse prevention laws. Laws and definitions of terms vary considerably from one state to another, but all states have set up reporting systems. Generally, adult protective services (APS) agencies receive and investigate reports of suspected elder abuse. The 2004 Survey of State Adult Protective Services, funded by the Administration on Aging, found the following:

• A 19.7 percent increase from 2000 – 2004 in the combined total of reports of elder and vulnerable adult abuse and neglect;
• A 15.6 percent increase from 2000 – 2004 in substantiated cases;
• In 20 of the states, more than two in five victims (42.8%) were age 80 or older;
• Most alleged perpetrators in 2003 were adult children (32.6%) or other family members (21.5%), and spouses/intimate partners accounted for 11.3% of the total (11 states responding).

Chemical that Triggers Parkinson's Disease Discovered
Researchers at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine have discovered the key brain chemical that causes Parkinson's disease - a breakthrough finding that could pave the way for new, far more effective therapies to treat one of the most common and debilitating neurological disorders. Currently, the main approach for treating Parkinson's disease, which afflicts more than 1.5 million Americans, is to replace dopamine that's lost when the cells that produce it die off and cause the disorder. With this new research, however, scientists can better work toward 'neuroprotective' therapies - those that actually block dopamine cells from dying off in the first place. For more information, click here.

The National Association on Area Agencies on Aging 33rd Annual Conference & Tradeshow
The National Association on Area Agencies is hosting its 33rd Annual Conference & Tradeshow: Aging Tops the Charts in Music City on July 20 - 23rd at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel & the Nashville Convention Center--Nashville, Tennessee. For more information, click here.

Call for Papers: 2008 White House Conference on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
The White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (OFBCI) has scheduled a conference for June 2008 to highlight the wide range of research on new initiatives and the changes in governance that have occurred over the past seven years. This White House conference represents an important opportunity to review policy, regulatory, and programmatic changes and to gain a better understanding of the components of the Faith-Based and Community Initiative (FBCI) that are believed to have produced significant and long-term potential for positive change. More.

The White House OFBCI, in coordination with the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation and Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, is soliciting abstracts for research papers to be presented at the conference that will be published in a research compendium. The desired research papers are in two tracks: The first is for research on new initiatives and innovations in social services delivery. The second is for emerging scholarship in faith-based and community initiatives research. Deadline is December 3, 2007.

Call for Papers: 20th National Symposium on Doctoral Research in Social Work
The College of Social Work at The Ohio State University invites recent Ph.D. recipients in social work to submit abstracts describing their dissertation research for the 20th National Symposium on Doctoral Research in Social Work. Dissertations completed between May 2006 and December 2007 are eligible for consideration. The authors of the selected abstracts will be invited to present their research at the Symposium, where a renowned researcher and scholar will deliver the keynote address. Deadline for abstracts is January 7, 2008. For more information, click here.

Call for Papers: The Third North American Conference on Spirituality and Social Work
The US Society for Spirituality and Social Work and the Canadian Society for Spirituality and Social Work are co-sponsoring this international conference to be held at St. Thomas Univeristy, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, June 19-21, 2008. The call for papers deadline is December 17, 2007. For more details, click here.

NALSD Creates Elder Rights Advocacy Hall of Fame
The National Association of Legal Services Developers (NALSD) announced the creation of an Elder Rights Advocacy Hall of Fame. The announcement came during an association meeting on October 12, 2007, during the National Aging and Law Conference held in Arlington, Virginia. To learn more, click here.

1 in 7 Americans over age 70 has Dementia
A recent study based on 856 individuals found that 1 in 7 Americans over the age of 70 have dementia. This was the "first known nationally representative, population-based study to include men and women from all regions of the country." As expected, the study also confirmed findings that the prevalence of dementia increased dramatically with age, from 5 percent of individuals age 71-79, to 37.4 percent of individuals 90 and older. To learn more about this study, click here.

Funding Opportunities

Hartford Doctoral Fellows Program
On the verge of beginning your doctoral dissertation? If so, this program may be just what you need to take your career to the next level! The Hartford Doctoral Fellows Program is funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation of New York City and administered by The Gerontological Society of America. James Lubben, DSW, MPH, is the Principal Investigator & National Program Director, and Louise McMahon Ahearn University Chair at Boston College School of Social Work. Application deadline is February 1, 2008. For more information, click here.

Hartford Faculty Scholars Program
The Hartford Faculty Scholars program is seeking scholars that will train the next generation of social workers to provide care to older Americans and their caregivers. The program is funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation of New York City and administered by The Gerontological Society of America. Barbara Berkman, DSW, is the Principal Investigator & National Program Director, and Helen Rehr/Ruth Fizdale Professor at Columbia University School of Social Work. Application deadline is February 1, 2008. For more information, click here.

CSWE Gero-Ed Center CDI Program: Gero Curricular Change Funding Available
The CSWE Gero–Ed Center announces funding for a new, 3-year Cycle 2 Curriculum Development Institute (CDI) Program, July 1, 2008 – June 30, 2011. Applications are welcome from all CSWE–accredited BSW, MSW, and combined BSW/MSW programs that have not already participated in the Cycle 1 CDI Program (2004–2007) or the Geriatric Enrichment Program (GeroRich, 2001–2004). For additional program and application details, review the Request for Proposals (RFP) and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), available on the CDI Program Web page,http://www.gero-edcenter.org/CDI. The application deadline is April 15, 2008.

Resources

Days in the Lives of Geronotological Social Workers
Edited by Linda May Grobman, ACSW, LSW and Dara Bergel Bourass, PhD, MSW, LSW comes the third volume of Days in the Lives of Gerontological Social Workers. This book focuses on 44 professional stories from real life social workers and their experience with older adults. This resource will give you a better understanding of issues facing older adults as well as their social workers. It might also inspire one to pursue a similar career path. To learn more, click here.

T is for Trespass
In Sue Grafton's latest fictious crime novel, T is for Trespass, the plot centers on a sociopath that enters the world of caregiving. Set in the late eighties, Grafton's novel is all too familiar as it tackles the world of identity theft, elder abuse, betrayal of trust, and the breakdown in the institutions charged with caring for the weak and dependent. The novel is set to be released on December 4th. To learn more, click here.

South America Trip
Interested in learning about aging issues and elder care in Brazil, Argentina, and Chile? Join the Jessie F. Richardson Foundation and Global Aging Partner's for a one of a kind experience in traveling through these countries on April 3-17, 2008. For more information, click here.

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