At Unite Us, we want to empower every individual to advocate for healthier communities. In our latest blog series, Advocating for Community, we highlight key issues facing the populations we serve across the country, describe how we address those needs, and call on others to take concrete actions in support of this work.

Drivers of Health for Older Adults

By 2040, one in five Americans will be 65 or older, marking a significant shift in the demographics of the United States. Thankfully, this next generation of older adults is expected to live healthier and longer than previous generations. But while our collective longevity is undeniably good news, it will also come with an increased need for health and social care support.

Social Isolation and Loneliness

If current trends continue, this next generation of older adults is more likely than ones before to experience certain social conditions that have adverse impacts on their health. Because they are more likely to live alone, experience the loss of loved ones, suffer from chronic illnesses, or experience hearing loss, older adults are at increased risk for loneliness and social isolation. This challenge is a serious one with potentially tragic consequences—the U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory recently noted that “the mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, and even greater than that associated with obesity and physical inactivity.”

Health Disparities of Older Adults

While some issues like social isolation specifically impact older adults, other challenges experienced across all age groups also present more risks for adults in their later years. For instance, the high rates of obesity currently observed in American adults of all ages will become more pronounced in older demographics. Meanwhile, health disparities experienced by older Americans, particularly across race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status, are on track to become even more pronounced within the next 10 years.

These trends are troubling, and they’re coming in the midst of a significant shortage of caregivers. But the good news is that thousands of individuals and organizations are working hard to build a brighter future for older adults across the country. What we want, and what older Americans say that they want, is the ability to thrive. In their later years, older Americans deserve to live in a place of their choice without losing their quality of life, to receive the services they need to age and grow, and remain pillars of our communities. We can make that happen if we work together. 

Addressing the Needs of Older Adults

At Unite Us, we’ve had the opportunity to partner with many of the incredible organizations leading this work. Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs), which have been working in and with communities across the country since the 1970s, provide critical care coordination services for aging adults and increasingly partner with their local health care systems and Veterans Affairs clinics. Federal and state policies are shifting the landscape to address our coming demographic changes, as Medicare and Medicaid are increasingly supporting the social needs of older adults. Critical food access programs, like Meals on Wheels, are being supplemented with Food as Medicine-focused programs to address individuals’ diet-related health needs. Across all of these organizations and programs, technology is connecting people with resources in a big way. And platforms, including those offered by Unite Us, are making this work sustainable by helping local CBOs get paid for the aging services they deliver.

Access to Health and Social Care

To address the needs of older adults, we must continue to improve access to healthcare and social services together—not just with other providers, but with the aging population as a whole. The best way to offer meaningful support is to listen to the community when its members tell us what they need. “Education is very important for our community,” says Jenna Hauss, President and CEO at ONEgeneration. “We need to make sure our stakeholders understand the important needs of the older adult community. Often, older adults are forgotten. But the reality is that everyone is aging, and everyone knows an older adult. This is a population that’s not going away, and we need to provide services that ensure older adults are cared for. It’s critical that we hear from those we serve and their caregivers, and listen to what their needs are.”

Providing and paying for CBO resources—including home visiting programs, medically tailored meals, and transportation assistance—can prevent or mitigate the impact of depression, loneliness, and diabetes. Furthermore, we can promote better housing conditions that provide safe and comfortable shelter for older adults, including easier access to home care and mobility tools such as stairlifts, improved lighting, and ramps. As the aging population is increasingly using technology platforms and resources, outreach efforts must incorporate and include digital resources that are designed with older adults in mind.  

Aging Reimagined

Aging is a fact of life. It’s our collective responsibility to ensure the next generation of aging adults live long, healthy lives. This starts with ensuring that the benefits of technologies and services are equally accessible to all, supporting communities in their efforts to deliver better health outcomes for every individual.

Together, all of this work is designed to improve quality of life for older adults, empower them to make decisions about their own aging, and support the organizations that address their health and social care needs. 

At Unite Us, we’re committed to:

• Deepening and expanding our partnership with aging service providers, including AAAs. We will grow our cross-sector networks and referral patterns that support AAAs, and we’ll create new connections between AAAs and other health and social care providers.
• Launching a community of practice for Unite Us network partners focused on care coordination for older adults. This community of practice will engage the aging-related service providers, including AAAs, on the Unite Us network so that they can share best practices as well as challenges. Unite Us will take these challenges to the policymakers and program officials with the power to enact change.  
• Responding to the Surgeon General’s call to action on social isolation by establishing internal initiatives focused on unmet needs particular to older adults. In particular, we’ll work to define evidence-based health and social care services that address the unique needs of the older adult population and ensure social connection is prioritized as a critical component to healthcare services.

To build on these efforts, Unite Us calls on communities to advocate for:

• Expanding home and community-based services (HCBS). These services, paid for by Medicare and Medicaid, include services such as meal delivery, transportation, and personal care assistance, which can help older adults remain in their homes and communities. Expanding these services ensures older adults have access to necessary medical services, including preventative care and chronic disease management.
• Increasing funding for Older Americans Act Programs. These programs provide essential health services and support for older adults, especially low-income seniors. They include in-home services, transportation, nutrition programs, family caregiver support, and more. Increased funding for these services, including for technology to coordinate and bill for these services, can help older adults maintain their independence and improve their overall health. In the first significant update from the U.S. Administration for Community Living (ACL) since the 1980s, interested stakeholders should take this critical opportunity to comment on the proposed updates to the Older Americans Act program regulations.   
• Supporting family caregivers and addressing the caregiver shortage. Technology is never a silver bullet. While technology can certainly help with some needs for some populations, core at-home services will always require caregivers. The caregiver shortage is causing real harm to older adults, and it will only worsen unless significant steps are taken. We ask for policymakers to recognize the critical issue of our current caregiver shortage and take meaningful steps to address it. 
• Paying for social care. To ensure older adults’ health-related social needs are addressed, healthcare payers and providers should directly reimburse CBOs for the services they provide and adopt quality measures like NCQA’s HEDIS Social Needs Screening and Intervention (SNS-E) measure. The SNS-E, which is included in the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ proposed Universal Foundations measure set, tracks whether social care needs were identified and then addressed.

Our shared work is just getting started. Will you join us? 

Get in Touch

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While this is exciting news for most, these advancements may also lead to new stressors, especially for those who don’t have access to the support they need as everyday tasks become more difficult. Even the most independent may experience difficulty adjusting to and even enjoying the newfound independence that comes with living longer.

Loneliness and social isolation, which have been linked to serious health conditions later in life, are also growing amongst the older adult population, making some older adults even more susceptible to the negative impacts of aging. 

The good news is that helping the aging population doesn’t have to be hard. With the right support, resources, and connections, many older adults can continue to lead fulfilling and rewarding lives. You may have already thought about lending a hand to the aging population, but perhaps you didn’t know where to start.

Here are five practical ways you can give back to the older adults closest to you:

1. Stay in touch.

A simple phone call or visit can make a huge difference in the life of an older adult—so much so that they’ve even been shown to be effective in reducing loneliness and depression in at-risk older adults. Listening to the stories, experiences, and perspectives of older adults can help them feel valued and connected to others in their community. Regular check-ins can also help friends and family members keep track of their well-being and take note of any differences in how they may be feeling. So, why wait? Pick up the phone and reach out to an older adult in your life today.

2. Volunteer your time.

Whether you’re an organization or an individual looking to make a positive impact, there’s no shortage of ways to encourage relationship building and engagement in the community. Intergenerational programming, or programs that connect multiple generations, promote learning and skill development, break down age-based stereotypes, and foster understanding across all ages. Teens can provide technology lessons and companionship for older adults, and older adults can mentor local youth and help with childcare services. Intergenerational programming offers countless benefits for people of all ages. 

3. Offer to help.

No matter where you live, there are older adults who can benefit from your help. Driving to a doctor’s appointment, shopping for groceries, and performing everyday tasks might not be easy for those who are grappling with changes in finances, nutritional needs, and physical mobility. To make matters worse, living alone and having smaller social circles leaves many older adults seeking companionship in addition to assistance with basic errands. Offering a ride, engaging in conversation, or even preparing a hot meal might make all the difference in someone’s day, let alone their ability to care for themselves.

4. Join the age-friendly movement.

Whether someone is using a walker or pushing a stroller, we all stand to benefit from creating communities that are designed to meet the needs of all ages. From well-maintained sidewalks and accessible public transportation to affordable housing and community centers, age-friendly communities are designed to promote social inclusion, health, and well-being for people of all ages. In doing so, communities are both better equipped to serve the aging population and to help all residents stay healthy, connected, and active. 

5. Connect the dots in your community.

Navigating the aging network and finding the right resources can be tricky. As more adults choose to age in place, many may not know where and how they can access additional support in their own communities. Fitness classes, art programs, nutrition education classes, and healthy aging workshops are only helpful if people know how to find them. Making a referral on behalf of your family member or neighbor, helping them enroll in workshops or social programming opportunities at the local council on aging, or connecting them to the nearest area agency on aging are all good places to start. 

We should all do our part to help the older adults living in our own communities. Learning more about how we all benefit when older adults remain engaged, independent, and included is just the first step. 

Supporting the aging population can be simple but impactful, making the efforts outlined above all the more important as we strive to create communities that support and include all who live there. By offering our time, patience, and support, anyone can make a positive difference in the lives of the older adults we know or have yet to meet.

Are you passionate about healthy aging? Learn from industry experts and connect with others who support the aging community like you do! 

Watch our webinar, Aging Reimagined: Building Bridges to Better Aging.

Watch the webinar

Whether you’re a healthcare professional, social care provider, caregiver, or simply someone who cares about the well-being of older adults, this webinar will provide valuable insights and inspiration for improving the lives of older adults. 

The post Lending a Hand: Five Practical Ways to Support Older Adults appeared first on uniteus.com.

Our Power in Partnership series highlights our national and regional partners and the work they do to build healthier communities.

Tell us more about your organization.

SteppingStone is an adult day health program that provides health and social services to adults with chronic medical conditions and disabilities in California. Providing over 50,000 service days each year and serving over 350 clients, the program aims to improve participants’ quality of life by promoting health and wellness, providing individualized care, and creating a supportive community environment. SteppingStone offers a range of services, including nursing care, therapy, nutrition, and social activities and is a key part of the senior care infrastructure of San Francisco, working closely with many partner organizations and agencies. SteppingStone has been a Unite Us partner since 2022.

What are the greatest needs of the individuals and families you serve?

SteppingStone serves individuals who require ongoing medical care, socialization, and assistance with the activities of daily living. Some of the greatest needs of these individuals and their families include access to affordable healthcare services, social support networks, and caregiver respite. Additionally, they require specialized services to manage chronic conditions such as dementia or physical disabilities. 

What are the main programs or offerings that your organization provides?

Some of the main programs and offerings that SteppingStone provides include medical and nursing care, physical and occupational therapy, social services, and recreational activities. Over time, these programs and offerings have expanded and evolved to better serve the needs of the individuals and families SteppingStone serves. For example, the organization has introduced new programs like the Alzheimer’s Day Care Resource Center, which provides specialized care and support for individuals with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. More recently, the organization has started the onboarding process of Enhanced Care Management (ECM)—which goes live on July 1, 2023. The ECM Project at SteppingStone Adult Day Health Care (ADHC) is a program designed to provide comprehensive care coordination and management services to individuals with complex medical and behavioral health needs. The program aims to improve the health outcomes and quality of life for participants, many of whom are elderly or disabled and require multiple services and treatments.

The program is staffed by a team of experienced care managers who work closely with participants and their families to assess their needs and develop individualized care plans. Care managers collaborate with medical providers, social workers, and other professionals to coordinate services such as medical care, behavioral health services, transportation, and housing assistance.

How has working with Unite Us impacted the work that you do?

Ongoing communication and follow-up are essential to ensure individuals and families can successfully navigate the healthcare system and access the care they need. SteppingStone decided to use Unite Us for referrals because it provides a secure, user-friendly platform for our care team to connect participants with community-based services and resources. With Unite Us, we can easily track referrals and monitor outcomes, which allows us to provide more comprehensive and coordinated care to our participants. Additionally, Unite Us offers a large network of community partners, which helps us ensure our participants are connected with the most appropriate resources to meet their needs.

“Working with Unite Us is a valuable asset for organizations seeking to improve care coordination and enhance the services they offer.”  – Jonathan Beavis, MPH Outreach Coordinator at SteppingStone

How does collaborating with other organizations play a role in your work?

Collaborating with other community-based and healthcare organizations is a critical aspect of the work we do at SteppingStone Adult Day Health Center. By working together, we can ensure our participants have access to a wide range of services and resources that can help them achieve better health outcomes and improve their overall well-being. This way, we can ensure our participants receive high-quality, coordinated care that meets their individual needs and preferences.

Through collaboration, we can streamline care delivery and avoid duplicating services and resources, which helps us use our resources more effectively. This ultimately improves the efficiency of our care model.

Additionally, collaborating with other organizations helps us stay up to date on best practices, emerging trends, and new developments in the healthcare field, which ultimately benefits our participants by helping us provide more comprehensive and effective care.

Why is collaboration important for your organization?

Overall, collaboration is an essential component of our approach to providing comprehensive, person-centered care to our participants, and we believe that it is a key factor in our success in achieving positive health outcomes for those we serve. 

Learn more about how to bring Unite Us to your organization: 

Get in Touch

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Aging in place refers to the ability of older adults to live in their own homes and communities, independently and safely, regardless of their abilities, age, or income. For many older adults, aging in place successfully allows them to remain in their community for years to come.

According to the United States Census Bureau, adults 65 and older are the fastest-growing segment of our nation, representing more than 17% of our total population.

Keeping Older Adults Safe and Connected

While sheltering-in-place helped older Americans reduce their risk of COVID-19 exposure, it came with a cost: increased isolation. Research from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine revealed that even before COVID-19, about one-quarter of Americans over age 65 were socially isolated, and more than 40 percent of people over age 60 reported feeling lonely. Social isolation can contribute to feelings of loneliness and worsen chronic conditions. The good news is, more local organizations and communities are establishing programs and interventions to support socially isolated older adults aging in place, for example:

• Tailored health programs focusing on older adult fitness and nutrition
• Intergenerational housing communities that pair graduate students with older adults who are at risk for social isolation
• Initiatives to deliver laptops, training, and wifi to help close the digital divide for older adults with little or no access to the internet.
• Home delivered meals and family caregiver support from agencies such as the National Council on Aging, Meals on Wheels, and Area Agencies on Aging.

How Your Organization Can Support Aging in Place

As the number of older adults in the U.S. continues to grow, more local organizations and communities around the country are seeking to establish new programs and implement interventions to help decrease the number of socially-isolated older adults nationwide.

Unite Us partners with CBOs like yours to help support older adults so they can live and thrive independently. Our end-to-end, closed-loop referral solution helps connect isolated older adults to the social care and support they need, when they need it. Saving Our Seniors, one of our CBOs, provides essentials such as medical equipment and meals to homebound older adults. Their motto is “No senior left behind,” one that we echo at Unite Us. Our coordinated care network helps cut through the red tape and endless referrals so organizations like Saving Our Seniors can help older adults faster and more efficiently.

“The Unite Us Platform allows us to help with things like medical equipment and meals, but also allows us to connect seniors with the correct resources they need. The individuals and organizations on the Unite Us Platform want to make a difference. If we work together, we can help so many more people.”

–Kelli Casto, Founder/Executive Director, Saving Our Seniors

If your CBO provides assistance and support to older adults, you can make the most of your time and resources by joining our network. If you partner with us, you’ll be working alongside organizations such as United Way, Goodwill, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and many others. Joining a network is free of cost for CBOs, and because our platform is so intuitive, you’ll have abundant opportunities to positively impact older adults who are underserved and in need.

The Unite Us Difference

We have the opportunity to give older adults what they need most: better care at home. In 2021, there was a 103% increase in older adults served through the Unite Us platform. The Unite Us platform links state agencies, health systems, Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs), and community providers together to connect older adults with:

• Clinical services: access to allied health, nurses, primary care doctors, and specialists, for services like memory care
• Personal care: help with bathing, dressing, and grooming
• Daily-living assistance: meal services, cleaning, gardening, paying bills, and similar support
• Social care: transportation, help with shopping, and providing opportunities to connect with other

By building strong, collaborative partnerships, we can play an active role in creating credible and reliable networks that help older adults across the U.S. age in place with dignity and compassion. Join us in our mission to focus on whole-person care and improve health outcomes for older adults. Together, we can make a difference.

Get in Touch

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In 2018, many policymakers across the United States pledged to direct energy toward continued criminal justice reform and the problem of mass incarceration. New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo plans to end cash bail for low-level offenses; Massachusetts Democrat candidates for Governor all agree on some repeal of mandatory minimum sentences; Civil rights lawyers put pressure on the newly elected mayor of Atlanta to actualize her reform proposals and end pretrial detention.

What was once considered to be one of America’s invisible populations, is now at the center of reform and progress. For years, advocates for criminal justice reform have pushed forward mechanisms to reduce the population residing in jails and prisons — approximately 2.2 million in 2017 — and today, there is opportunity to introduce real change in the way we seek justice.

Support for the Aging Prison Population

The Parole Preparation Project in New York City is one organization turning such aspirations into action. As a volunteer with PPPNYC, I am paired with a person in prison who is preparing for their Parole Board interview. I learn about the person and their crime, and most importantly, understand how they have spent their time in prison. PPPNYC tends to work with people in prison who have been continuously denied parole by the New York State Parole Board; after serving a minimum sentence and being denied parole an upwards of nine times, these candidates are often 40-65 years old.

It is this subdivision of inmates that amplifies the cost and sheer amount of people in prison: the aging population. The number of aging people in prison is growing. In 2016, there were more than 10,000 inmates aged 50 and over in New York State prisons, that number rising almost 98 percent since 2000. Nationwide, the aging prison population is the fastest growing segment of the inmate population. There are a few explanations for this alarming growth.

To start, the prison population serving life sentences has steadily grown. According to The Sentencing Project, approximately 161,957 people served life sentences in 2016 compared to 127,677 in 2003 — a 27 percent increase. Over time, federal and state policy changes have increased sentences for certain offenses. In California, the Three Strikes law doubled the sentence for defendants with one prior conviction and mandated 25 years to life for defendants with two or more prior convictions.

As well, opportunities for release from prison have been restricted: many states have adopted minimum sentence requirements before an inmate is eligible for parole (e.g. minimum 15-year sentence), regardless of their behavior while in prison. Without the formal motivation to work towards early release, inmates are less likely to seek rehabilitation and redemption while in prison. Finally, those who were sentenced to 20 or more years as young adults are aging into the older category of people in prison. The joined effect of more people serving more time is massive.

Why should we be concerned about these statistics and how do they relate to community health?

Cost

It costs much more to house an older adult in prison. As they age, many inmates need assistance performing daily tasks and to attend offsite medical appointments, both of which require extra correctional staffing. Additionally, today’s healthcare trends are replicated inside prison walls: the aging inmate population faces chronic health conditions, like diabetes and asthma, that are becoming more and more expensive to manage. In addition to those costs, aging inmates face age-related health concerns like hearing loss and arthritis, which often require accompanying medical equipment and devices.

The result? Aging inmates are the most expensive to incarcerate and cost taxpayers an estimate $68,270 per inmate, twice the cost of an average prisoner, according to the ACLU’s report The Mass Incarceration of the Elderly.

Recidivism

Inmates over the age of 50 are less likely to commit misconduct while incarcerated and have a far lower rate of recidivism once released, making them good candidates for release. However, once released, older justice-involved individuals face unique challenges:

• Difficulty in obtaining a job that fits their experience,
• Struggle accessing income support and other benefits due to lack of identification cards, and
• Trouble utilizing online resources to access community resources

Health for All

We should be concerned for the health of all aging people — those inside and outside prison walls. Unfortunately, prison design accelerates the decline of the overall health of justice-involved individuals. The physical structure is not accessible to aging inmates with decreased mobility. Prison staff are not trained or equipped to serve an aging population and their extended needs. As such, a person ages more rapidly while in prison because they are made to conform to buildings and medical support designed for a much younger population.

What’s Next?

It can be daunting to consider criminal justice reform and methods to reduce the number of aging people in prison. While advocacy groups across the country work to ameliorate federal and state policy, there are concrete steps community organizations and health systems can take to address the challenges faced by aging people in prison.

When a person plunges into the reentry process, either on parole or compassionate release, they need to rebuild: they must secure housing, seek medical or mental health care, and reconnect with a community on the outside. To complicate an already intense experience, people who were in prison are often left to their own devices in accessing life needs due to poor coordination among organizations that serve reentry populations.

Improving the Aging Reentry Process

The National Association of Area Agencies on Aging surveyed Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) across the United States in a study called Supporting America’s Aging Prisoner Population: Opportunities & Challenges for Area Agencies on Aging. In the report, 91 percent of respondents said they do not run programs for aging inmates or those being released. When asked what training and technical assistance could improve service to this population, 48 percent of service providers answered they would like to better understand the needs of aging inmates.

There is an evident gap in services, but importantly, an opportunity to educate community providers on how to integrate this population into their current programming and build a network for these providers to communicate. Researchers also urged, “For reentry programs, having data on the correlation between connecting recently released individuals to necessary services (such as transportation, housing and employment) and the impact on recidivism, would substantiate the need for these programs.”

Not only could a network of reentry services ease an aging inmate’s transition, the data gathered from programs and their impact on recidivism could highlight the importance of robust services and attract more funding to the initiative.

During my work with a person in prison, I notice just how many aspects of life we need to consider before their potential release: in their preferred relocation, we need to arrange a place to live (often a reentry shelter until the person can support themselves), a job or income support, and an established community or group of family members to welcome them home.

Wouldn’t it be great if, upon release, an older adult in the reentry process could ease back into their community and live out their life without added stress? We can play a role in improving the aging reentry process by establishing a formal network of services for this population. By connecting reentry housing programs, job training and recruitment agencies, medical and mental health care providers, and peer support groups, communities can begin to reintegrate these individuals with more compassion.

We have a responsibility to not only lessen the number of people entering prisons and jails, but to also thoughtfully consider the reentry process of people exiting. Starting with the aging prison population, we can learn what works and what does not when developing community-based reentry networks, coordinating services, and restoring life outside prison.

Unite Us supports justice-involved individuals transitioning back into their communities by powering accountable community-wide networks of health and social service providers. Watch our webinar to learn more about care delivery to support the reentry of justice-involved individuals.

Watch the webinar

The post The Aging Prison Population: Today’s Challenges and Tomorrow’s Solution appeared first on uniteus.com.