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Ripples

The e-Newsletter of the Geriatric Social Work Initiative (GSWI)
Volume 7, Issue 3
March 26, 2008

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
Policy

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Congratulations to the following…

• Harriet Cohen, TCU, Hartford Faculty Scholar, Cohort VII, for receiving the “Distinguished Contribution to Baccalaureate Social Work Education” award. This award created by the Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Directors (BPD), recognizes social work educators with 10 years or less as a faculty member who have demonstrated significant leadership and service contributions to baccalaureate social work education.  
• Stacey Kolomer, Hartford Faculty Scholar, Cohort VI, for being awarded the 2008 Mit Joyner Gerontological Leadership award. The purpose of this award is to promote leadership in geronotological social work practice for undergraduate students through scholarship, best practices and/or community connections.
• Zvi D. Gellis, Hartford Faculty Scholar, Cohort III, for accepting a faculty position as Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice starting September 2008. He will be collaborating with the Center for Mental Health Policy and Services Research, and he will continue as a faculty affiliate at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, Institute of Geriatric Psychiatry.
• Crystal Dea Moore, Hartford Faculty Scholar, Cohort VII, who has been awarded tenure and promotion to the rank of Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work at Skidmore College. 

Hartford-Funded Caregiving Initiative Brings Together Multiple Disciplines
A working group of approximately 50 researchers, leaders from nursing and social work, including GSA President Lisa Gwyther, and representatives from national organizations that address caregiving issues convened in Washington, DC earlier this year for an invitational symposium, “State of the Science: Nurses and Social Workers Supporting Family Caregivers.” This symposium is the first step in a new caregiving initiative funded by the John A. Hartford and the Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundations. Project partners include AARP, the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), Family Caregiver Alliance (FCA), American Journal of Nursing,and Rutgers University. A national advisory committee will meet at CSWE this spring to plan next steps, and symposium papers will be disseminated later this year.

CSWE Now Accepting Proposals for the APM Gero-Ed Track
The Call for Proposals for the 2008 CSWE Annual Program Meeting (APM) is now open.  We encourage you to submit your aging-related proposal to the Gero-Ed Track by selecting the “Gero-Ed (Aging and Gerontology) Track” option when completing the APM online submission process.  The 54th CSWE APM will be held in Philadelphia, October 29–November 1, 2008.  Please visit the APM page on the CSWE Web site for more information: http://www.cswe.org/apm/. APM Submission Deadline: Friday, March 28, 2008

Journal of Family Social Work Call for Papers
The Journal of Family Social Work invites papers for a special issue focusing on implementing family-centered health care practices across the lifespan. The mission of this issue is to enhance understanding of pathways to support family resilience when living with a chronic and/or life-threatening health condition. Deadline is May 15, 2008. For more information, click here.

St. Paul Senior Workers Association Annual Spring Conference
The St. Paul Senior Workers Association will be hosting its Annual Spring Conference, Wednesday, May 14, 2008 at the Radisson Hotel of Roseville in Roseville, Minnesota. For more information, click here.

The Institute for Geriatric Social Work Announces New Courses Open to the Public Today!
The Institute for Geriatric Social Work (IGSW) has announced several new Print and Go (P&G) courses and Interactive Self-Paced (ISP) courses open to the public. IGSW's extensive course catalog features more than 30 accredited online courses in aging, as well as an Online Certificate in Aging. These courses include—Aging and Public Health, Nutrition and Older Adults, Technology Innovations and Aging, Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias, Aging and the Arts, and Couples Late in Life. To learn more about these courses and others, click here.

2008 American Geriatrics Society Annual Scientific Meeting
The Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Geriatrics Society will be held in Washington, DC, April 30-May 4, 2008. The AGS Annual Scientific Meeting is a premier educational event in geriatrics, providing the latest information on clinical care, research on aging, and innovative models of care delivery. The 2008 Annual Meeting will address the educational needs of geriatrics professionals from all disciplines. To learn more, click here.

2008 GADE Conference
The Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education in Social Work (GADE) is hosting its annual conference at the Hotel Monaco in Salt Lake City, UT, April 4-5, 2008. To learn more about the conference, click here.

RESEARCH & NEWS

Growing Old, But with Choices
Across the country, businesses, governments, and other agencies are learning how to better accommodate seniors. This is being done by forming networks, called “Aging in Place Councils” in various cities, establishing a crucial link between seniors and services. This article shows that services not linked to retirement communities are also providing options for older Americans who want to remain in their homes. To learn more about these networks, click here.

The Global Impact of Dementia
AARP International article warns of a global dementia crisis that may be looming. With the population of those over the age of 65 increasing to 2 billion by 2050, an increase in dementia cases are expected. In fact, estimates show that by 2050, those with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia will hit 81 million (compared to 24 million in 2001). The article also stresses the challenges associated with caring for the elderly, especially those in developing countries. To learn more, click here.

Groups Provide Support for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
Across the United States, more than 6 million children are being raised in households headed by grandparents and other relatives as parents struggle with substance abuse, mental illness, incarceration, economic hardship, divorce, domestic violence, and other problems. In North Carolina alone, 80,000 children are living in households headed by grandparents. To learn how residents of Brunswick County, North Carolina are providing support for grandparents raising grandchildren, click here.

Listening to The Beatles Hits Right Note for Stroke Patients?
Finnish researchers have discovered that listening to music helps people recover quickly from strokes. And patients who listened to a few hours of music each day soon after a stroke also improved their verbal memory and were in a better mood compared to patients who did not listen to music or used audio books. Music therapy has long been used in a range of treatments but the study published in the journal, Brain, is the first to show the effect in people. To learn more about this study, click here.

Daytime Dozing: Stroke Warning
Researchers have found that falling asleep unintentionally during the daytime may be an early warning sign of stroke in elderly people. This includes dozing off while watching television, sitting and talking to someone, sitting quietly after lunch, and stopping briefly in traffic. The risk of stroke over the next two years was 2.6 times greater for people who reported “some dozing” compared to those with no dozing. To learn more, click here.  

Homeward Bound: Staying in Your House as You Age
Accidents occur to everyone. Everyone falls. However, for older adults such accidents can often mean the end of living independently. Twenty percent of falls among elderly people require medical attention, and serious injuries, such as hip fractures, often require nursing-home care. In a 2006 AARP study, 90 percent of adults 60 and older say they want to stay in their home as they age. This article explores the movement that is gaining momentum to help seniors retain their independence by remaining in their home as they get older. To learn more, click here.

Older Adults May Have Unhealthy Drinking Habits
A study published in the Journal of American Geriatrics Society provides data from Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 and older, revealing that 9 percent engaged in unhealthy drinking habits. The study based on a 2003 Medicare survey, also reported that two-thirds of beneficiaries do not drink, while one-quarter drink within the recommended guidelines. To learn more about this study, click here.

New Generation Gap as Older Addicts Seek Help
Across the country, substance abuse centers are reaching out to older addicts whose numbers are growing and who have historically been ignored. Residential and outpatient clinics are now dedicated to those over 50 with special counselors offered just for them. Federal data shows a shift in substance abuse demographics—from 1.7 million in 2001 to an expected 4.4 million by 2020. To learn more, click here.

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

Hartford Doctoral Fellows Pre-Dissertation Award Program
The Hartford Doctoral Fellows Pre-Dissertation Award Program, a component of the nationwide Geriatric Social Work Initiative, will introduce you to the world of gerontological research and give you a jump start in taking on a leadership role in this burgeoning field. If you’re a social work doctoral student seeking a direction that will fully engage your talents and satisfy your passion to make a difference, click here.

Apply for Gero Curricular Change Funding: CSWE Gero-Ed Center’s CDI Program
There is still time to apply for the Cycle 2 Curriculum Development Institute (CDI) Program, which offers more than $7000 in funding for curricular change strategies and travel to national meetings, as well as invaluable guidance from national mentors and CDI colleagues. 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). This is the one and only time within the next five years to apply for this comprehensive approach to gero curricular change. Visit the Gero-Ed Center Web site’s CDI Program web page to request an application. Gero-Ed Center staff are available to answer any questions you may have after reviewing the RFP and FAQ on the Web site. Deadline for CDI Program Applications: Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Anita Rosen Poster Awards: $1000 Available to Students
Students still have time to submit proposals for the 3rd Annual Anita Rosen Gerontology Awards for Outstanding Student Poster before the March 28th deadline. Three $1000 awards are available (one for each degree level) to BSW, MSW, and Doctoral social work students submitting intergenerational or aging-specific poster abstracts as part of the CSWE APM Call for Proposals. Visit the Anita Rosen Awards Page of the Gero-Ed Center web site to download a flyer to distribute to your students to encourage them to submit to the APM Gero-Ed Track. The deadline for submissions is Friday, March 28, 2008. For more information, please visit the Rosen Awards page on the Gero-Ed Center web site, call Jason Echols at: 1-703-519-2064, or e-mail the Gero-Ed Center.

CSWE Gero-Ed Center BEL Program: Funding Exclusively for BSW Programs
The CSWE Gero-Ed Center has just released the RFP for its new funding opportunity—the BSW Experiential Learning (BEL) Program. This unique program funds faculty to design positive learning experiences for their students to interact with older adults, which is a strategy intended to recruit students to gerontological placements and careers. It is available only to BSW programs in order to reach students early in their academic careers. The Gero-Ed Center encourages all eligible BSW programs to apply for this new program. Visit the BEL Program web page at www.Gero-EdCenter.org to learn more and request an application. If you have questions after visiting the website, please email the CSWE Gero-Ed Center at Gero-EdCenter@cswe.org. Application deadline is May 16, 2008.

Health and Aging Policy Fellows
A new professional fellowship opportunity entitled the Health and Aging Policy Fellows Program has been announced. Supported by The Atlantic Philanthropies and administered by Columbia University, this national program seeks to provide professionals in health and aging with the experience and skills necessary to make a positive contribution to the development and implementation of health policies that affect older Americans. This program offers a residential track and a non-residential track and is open to physicians, nurses and social workers at all career stages (early, mid, and late) with a demonstrated commitment to health and aging issues and a desire to be involved in health policy at the federal, state or local level. To learn more about the program, click here.

RESOURCES

 “Try This” Geriatric Nursing Series
The How to Try This series, a John A. Hartford Foundation-funded project provided to the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing at New York University’s College of Nursing in collaboration with the American Journal of Nursing, translates the evidence-based geriatric assessment tools in the Try This assessment series into cost-free, web-based resources including demonstration videos, and a corresponding print series featured in the AJN, developed to build geriatric assessment skills. The goal is to provide knowledge of best practices in the care of older adults. To learn more, click here.

KaiserEDU
KaiserEDU.org is designed to provide students, faculty and others interested in learning about health policy easy access to the latest data, research, analysis, and developments in health policy. The site includes narrated slide tutorials, background reference libraries, and issue modules on current topics and policy debates. To visit this resource, click here.

Book: The Longevity Revolution
Dr. Robert Butler, founder of the National Institute on Aging and the first medical school department of geriatrics, Pulitzer Prize winner, and coiner of the term ageism, announces his latest work—The Longevity Revolution. This book examines the health, economic and social consequences of the growing elderly population. Specifically, increasing longevity brings a host of challenges such as finding better (and cheaper) treatments for chronic health problems; building a health-care system capable of handling the load; and legal protection against age discrimination. Bulter argues that everyone should pay far more attention to the growing elderly population worldwide. To learn more, click here.

Gerontology Conferences Worldwide
This web site lists upcoming events in gerontology, geriatrics, aging and related fields. In particular, it lists domestic and international conferences from now through August 2009. To view this site, click here.  

Advocacy Webconference: Ten Steps to Becoming a More Effective Advocate
The Coalition for Health Services Research is offering an advocacy webconference titled, “Ten Steps to Becoming a More Effective Advocate” on April 9, 2008 from 2-3:30pm EST. This interactive webconference is designed to help you understand the importance of message development, timing, and strategy in influencing policy. It will also showcase one web-based tool designed to help you effectively relay your message to key legislators on Capitol Hill. For more information, click here. 

2007 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports
For the fifth year in a row, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has produced the National Healthcare Quality Report (NHQR) and the National Healthcare Disparities Report (NHDR). These reports measure trends in effectiveness of care, patient safety, timeliness of care, patient centeredness, and efficiency of care. The reports present, in chart form, the latest available findings on quality of and access to health care. To view these reports, click here.

eXtension Launches Website with Information for Family Caregivers
eXtension, an interactive learning environment based on a partnership of 74 universities, launched a website that provides information for family caregivers. The family caregiving section includes articles, calendars and events, questions and answers, and links to resources. eXtension provides information online and in other educational formats to consumers interested in learning from university-based researchers who are experts in their fields. For more information, click here.

POLICY

Caregiving PolicyDigest
This focused newsletter from Family Caregiver Alliance’s National Center on Caregiving offers a fresh look at the rapidly changing environment of caregiving. You will receive briefings on key legislation, news on innovative public programs, and the latest information on caregiving and long-term care policy at national and state levels. This FREE electronic newsletter is delivered twice each month or as important developments occur. To learn more, click here.

Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act Introduced
On February 14, 2008, Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Herb Kohl (D-WI) introduced a bill that would provide consumers, including family caregivers, with more transparency about nursing homes, including accurate information about facility ownership and operations, expenditures and nurse staffing information.  The bill, the Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act (S. 2641), would bring uniformity and structure to the nursing home complaint process, impose stiffer penalties for serious quality deficiencies, and require a number of studies on issues related to financing and quality of care in nursing homes. Most recently, the bill has been read twice and was referred to the Committee on Finance. For more information, click here.

McCain Faces Issue of Age
If elected President of the United States, Republican Nominee John McCain, 71, would be the oldest man to enter the White House as a first-term president. If early polling is meaningful, John McCain’s age will not work to his advantage. A Pew Research Center poll found that 19 percent of Republicans thought John McCain was too old. In a poll of all voters, 32 percent of all voters found him too old to be president. For further reading, click here.

Policy Workshop to Examine Implications of Medicare’s Funding Warning
Under the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, the Medicare Trustees are required to estimate the year in which general revenues will exceed 45 percent or more of total Medicare spending. If, in two consecutive years, the trustees project the 45 percent level will be reached within the next seven years, they are required to issue a Medicare funding warning – which they did last April.  The Kaiser Family Foundation hosts a policy workshop examining the so-called "45 percent trigger" and its implications for this year’s budget debate and Medicare's long-term fiscal health. To view the video, listen to the podcast, or read the transcript of the workshop, click here.

Health Care Costs Drive Up the National Retirement Risk Index
The National Retirement Risk Index (NRRI) has shown that even if households work to age 65 and annuitize all their financial assets, including the receipts from reverse mortgages on their homes, 44 percent will be ‘at risk’ of being unable to maintain their standard of living in retirement. This brief explores how rapidly rising health care costs enter the NRRI calculations.  To learn more, click here.

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