think programs helping seniors stay active H e a l t h M e d i c a l

After reading about the history of nursing homes and their regulatory/policy evolution, what are your thoughts? Do you think this path has been the right one?

After watching the three videos compare American with Denmark and Japan. What is similar and what is different?

Lastly, if you could create a new nursing home what would it look like?

the article for this: nursing, nursing home.

part: 2

Activity discussion

, reflect on staying active physically and mentally with people turning 65 today and the generation of your grandparents. How do you think programs helping seniors stay active has improved or not? How do you think the health insurance companies have played a part or not? Do you think aging policy addresses healthy aging through activity and mental engagement?

What pieces will you apply to your life now and how will you keep exploring how to age well? :

part: 3

Housing discussion

There is a lot of information ! Senior housing has so many options and many depend on income. After reading about senior housing, such as assisted living, HUD, and some creative options such as Lennar and Minka (which are my personal favorite) Our family built a NextGen home in Otsego and my mother-in-law lives with us. We had to move to Otsego because the town we were living in did not allow Lennar to build NextGen’s – why – who knows…Reflect on how the growing aging population and policy could be improved… for example, could we get a caregiver credit for helping care for my mother-in-law? How are we going to address the issue of many Boomer’s who have not saved enough to cover the costs of aging in place and will need apartment or assisted living? How could cities/communities change policies to help? Creative solutions are welcome. You might need to research outside of what I have posted.

part 4

reflect on how current policies are addressing these groups. We have done enough research about adult day, senior housing, and a variety of other senior services and programs to reflect how they are addressing diversity. The LGBTQ group also is just as important as those from different cultures, after watching the video how could we work to create more inclusive and safe senior housing options?

Your reflections about diversity should reflect what we have been studying on policy and how we can work diversity and inclusion into future policy and services.

I have been fortunate to see a HUD 202 setting that was built specifically for Chinese Americans in Chicago. They actually had experts review the design, how it faced and activities. They did a demonstration for us of their morning exercises! This HUD building was the first of its kind! This was sponsored by a nonprofit serving Chinese Americans and wanting to address the affordable housing issues they had in Chicago.

part 5

GERO 411/511-54 Aging Policy and Programs Fa21

Write about your favorite topic you learned about this semester. What made this your favorite topic? What points or new information did you learn and how are you going to use that in your life moving forward? As we move into the new legislative session in January for the state of MN, how can you help influence policy development?