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Help engAGED
Better Support Your Social Engagement Activities
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There’s still time to share your input on how engAGED can
help your organization achieve its current social engagement
priorities. If you have not yet completed the poll, please respond by end of the day today,
December 18! Your feedback will help inform and shape our future
training and technical assistance offerings.
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Helping Older
Adults Remain Engaged During the Holidays
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Recognizing the holiday season this
year may lead to increased feelings of social isolation and loneliness
among older adults due to the COVID-19 pandemic, engAGED brought
together national experts and local leaders to highlight creative
initiatives and resources to foster engagement of older adults during
the holiday season. Is your organization looking for ideas to help
older adults remain engaged during the holiday season? Make sure you
watch the recording of our December 9 webinar
and view the slides to learn more!
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New Campaign
Helps Older Adults Stay Connected and Healthy During the COVID-19
Pandemic
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The Eldercare Locator (funded by the
Administration for Community Living and administered by n4a) recently
launched its Home for the Holidays campaign—an
annual campaign that elevates issues of importance to older Americans
and their families—and provides consumer-friendly tools that
organizations can use to help start important conversations. This
year’s campaign highlights ways older adults can maintain social
connections to prevent social isolation and stay healthy. The December
engAGED blog offers
an overview of the campaign and highlights resources your organization
can use to support the campaign and promote its social engagement
programs.
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New Research
Shows Social Isolation and Hunger Evoke Similar Responses in the
Brain
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A new study from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) supports the idea that positive social
interactions are a human need and that those who are isolated crave
social interactions, similar to how those who are hungry crave food.
After participants in the MIT study fasted for 10 hours or spent 10
hours in total social isolation, researchers used MRIs to scan brain
activity and identify any changes that occurred when participants were
shown images of food and social interaction, as well as neutral images
such as flowers. Researchers found that the substantia nigra, a region
in the middle of the brain, became more active when participants who
fasted were shown images of food and participants who were isolated
were shown images of social interaction, while neutral images did not
active the substantia nigra. Read the full study in Nature Neuroscience and learn more
about what this study may mean for future research from MIT News.
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New Infographic
on Social Isolation and Loneliness
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A new infographic from the National
Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM) Foundation highlights
social isolation and loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic. The
infographic includes definitions of social isolation and loneliness,
recent data, risk factors associated with loneliness and impacts on
health, and key strategies and solutions to address social isolation
and loneliness.
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Providing
Unique Lifelong Learning Opportunities During COVID-19
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Lifelong learning offers older adults
an opportunity to engage in activities that enrich their lives and
contribute to healthy aging. To help organizations offering or
interested in offering lifelong learning efforts, the engAGED January
webinar will highlight how three different lifelong learning efforts
have adapted to COVID-19 to offer social engagement opportunities. Join
us on January 21 to hear from the National Resource Center for Osher
Lifelong Learning Institutes as they highlight Lifelong Learning
Institutes, SeniorsPlus (an Area Agency on Aging based in Lewiston, ME)
on its Education Center and PSS (a nonprofit based in New York City) on
its Life! University. Speakers will also offer tips to help your
organization create lifelong learning offerings or adapt existing
offerings during the pandemic. Register now for the webinar, which
will take place January 21 from 2:00-3:00 pm ET!
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engAGED Office
Hours: New Technical Assistance Opportunity from engAGED!
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Starting in 2021, engAGED will offer a
new technical assistance opportunity through an office hours pilot
program. The office hours program will provide Aging Network staff with
an opportunity to participate in interactive, small group technical
assistance calls every other month focused on various social engagement
topics and network with their peers, topic experts and engAGED staff.
Our first office hours call, which will focus on virtual learning opportunities
as a form of engagement, will take place January 27
from 1:00-2:00 pm ET. Participants will share their work in this space
and ask questions of the group. Attendance will be capped at 30
participants, so, RSVP to Rebecca Levine (rlevine@n4a.org)
if you are interested in participating as soon as possible to claim
your space!
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Martin Luther
King Jr. Day of Service During COVID-19
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Observed annually on the third Monday
in January, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is the only federal holiday
designated as a national day of service. The day celebrates Martin
Luther King Jr.’s life and legacy and encourages all Americans to
volunteer within their communities. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, the
annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service
will look different in 2021. To help organizations adapt service
opportunities during this time while meeting community needs,
AmeriCorps—who leads the day of service effort—held a webinar earlier
this month. As you plan for your organization’s Martin Luther King Jr.
Day activity, watch the webinar and view additional resources,
including ideas and tips for a successful project.
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engAGING
Articles in the News
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- Study: Exercise Classes Decrease Loneliness,
Social Isolation In Older People (KPBS, November 12,
2020)
- Coping With COVID-19: It Takes More Than
Medicine (Next Avenue, November 17, 2020)
- Hidden in a pandemic: Elderly in nursing
homes are dying from isolation (NBC News, November 17,
2020)
- A support group for women on the front lines
of the caregiving crisis (Los Angeles Times, November
20, 2020)
- Social isolation could play a role in
'excess' deaths this year (Observer-Dispatch, November
29, 2020)
- Amid COVID and Racial Unrest, Black Churches
Put Faith in Mental Health Care (Kaiser Health News,
December 1, 2020)
- Volunteers combating seniors’ social isolation
with phone calls (Sarasota Herald-Tribune, December 7,
2020)
- Social Isolation May Increase Your Risk of
Falls (The New York Times, December 14, 2020)
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