DCOA E*News At-A-Glance
This week, DCOA released the District's first state plan confronting Alzheimer's disease.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, 9
percent of seniors living in the District have the disease. This chronic
illness not only impacts the lives of those with this disease, but also has a
profound effect on their families and social networks. For this reason, The District of Columbia State Plan on Alzheimer’s
Disease seeks to set measurable goals to help improve the lives of District
residents living with this disease and reduce the burden on caregivers and
their families.
Click
here to download The District of Columbia State Plan on Alzheimer’s Disease.
In an effort to engage every senior in the District, the D.C. Office on
Aging Executive Director John M. Thompson, Ph.D. will hold
roundtable discussions at various senior wellness centers throughout
the city. The town hall style meetings allow seniors the opportunity to weigh in on issues that directly impact their lives.
The next discussion
will be:
Ward 8
Wednesday, November 20 11 am – 12 pm Congress Heights Senior Wellness Center 3500 Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue, S.E.
For more information about upcoming events and activities, please visit
the D.C. Office on Aging events calendar here.
On November 21, DCOA
will host a FREE training to share helpful
tips for the working caregiver, demonstrate how to effectively use respite, and respite for
individuals with developmental disabilities, offer tools and tips for family
caregivers, and supports for individuals with Alzheimer’s.
The
Lifespan Respite Program is funded by the U.S. Administration on Aging and was
established to help states expand, enhance, and coordinate respite
services. The D.C. Lifespan Respite Program works to meet these goals and serve all family
caregivers. This program includes,
but is not limited to, individuals, families, and children affected by
developmental disabilities, other disabilities, mental health issues, aging,
chronic illness, or abuse.
Space is limited. To register, call Linda Irizarry at linda.irizarry@dc.gov or call 202-724-5626.
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DCOA provides a biweekly forum for
caregivers who need help providing assistance to their loved one. Caregiver can
receive information about resources, talk to someone who may have experienced
similar obstacles when providing care or receive tips to make the caregiving
responsibility easier.
The next chat, “Caregiving and
Alzheimer’s Disease,” will be held on Tuesday, November 26 at 12 pm. Anyone interested in participating can log on here. If you are
unavailable to participate at noon, visit the website and hit replay at
your convenience.
For more information on programs and
services available for caregivers call Linda Irizarry, Life Span Respite
Program at 202-535-1442 or email linda.irizarry@dc.gov.
CREST transportation escort services
provides certified home health aide escorts to accompany District of Columbia
residents, age 60 and older, to and from their medical appointments. This
“door-through-door” service provides valuable assistance to seniors and relief
to family caregivers requiring an escort. Please call the CREST program at
202-638-0736 to find out how they can assist you or your loved one.
An estimated 382 million people worldwide have diabetes, according
to a new report from the International Diabetes Federation. The IDF expects that number to rise to 592 million by 2035, when
one in every 10 people will have the disease.
"Diabetes in all its forms imposes unacceptably high human,
social and economic costs on countries at all income levels," the report
authors begin in the executive summary. They go on to say that this latest
edition of the Diabetes Atlas "carries a bitter but unavoidable message:
despite the array of tools at our disposal to tackle the disease... the battle
to protect people from diabetes and its disabling, life-threatening
complications is being lost."
Read full article here.
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The Howard University
Multidisciplinary Gerontology Center is continuing its D.C. Aging Network Staff
Development series with “HIV/AIDS in Older Adults: Living and Coping with the
Illness.” The training begins on Wednesday, November 20, from
12:30 pm - 4:30 pm at Howard University’s School of Social Work.
Four CEUs will be available for those
completing the course. For more
information, contact laurie.thompson@howard.edu or call 202-806-7314.
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