Nov 1, 2024 | Chronic Diseases, Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Fitness, Healthy Aging, Malnutrition, News, Nutrition
Important HIP News
Yes, it’s true. DTA announced it’s lowering the monthly HIP benefit for ALL SNAP households to $20 per month, starting December 1, 2024, so the program can run all year long. The program needs $25 million annually but was only funded at $15 million in the FY2025 budget. Learn how to maximize your SNAP benefits.
The Massachusetts Food System Collaborative’s Campaign for HIP Funding released a call to action asking advocates to call the Governor’s office and legislative leadership (Speaker of the House Ron Mariano, HWM Chair Aaron Michlewitz, Senate President Karen Spilka, and SWM Chair Michael Rodrigues), asking them to urgently dedicate $10 million in supplemental funding for HIP and to stop the cut. Email Rebecca Miller, Policy Director at the Massachusetts Food System Collaborative, at rebecca@mafoodsystem.org with any questions about this advocacy alert.
MCOA ActiveAgers runs all year long
Check out the (current) top ten statewide physical activity categories.
Even if you missed the September 15 deadline, you can still submit your data dating back to January 1. The more data we have, the more robust a picture we can share with the network. Even better, the second round of data covering September 1 – December 31 is eligible for prize drawings.
Review the MCOA ActiveAgers Toolkit or email tara@mcoaonline.org with questions.
Free Webinar Series
Prioritizing What Matters to Older Adults Living with Chronic Disease: This National Center for Equitable Care for Elders learning collaborative webinar series focuses on age-friendly approaches to encourage the development and maintenance of healthy lifestyle behaviors in older adults. Participants will discuss special considerations for chronic disease self-management in an aging population, including physiological changes and social risk factors. Upon application, you will receive the session 1 recording and slides– and join us live for sessions 2-4. Session Two: November 5; Session Three: November 19; Session Four: December 3, 2024. All sessions 2-3 p.m.
Older Adults Meal Funding is in Jeopardy (NANASP Updates)
- This is a crucial time for NANASP members to communicate with their Members of Congress, and share local data and stories from clients on the impact of funding challenges. Find your representatives here. In this current fiscal year, we have the first reduction in the Older Americans Act nutrition program in years with an $8 million overall cut. Neither the Senate nor the House proposal has restored this cut. This has to happen. Here’s what you can do:
- Your Voice Matters! Take our survey to share the impact of funding cuts on your program and clients. Your response is CRUCIAL for our advocacy efforts.
- Write to your Members of Congress to share with them how vital your program and services are for their older constituents. Make sure to share data and testimonies from your clients.
- NANASP and Meals on Wheels America, submitted a letter with 63 other national organizations to Congressional leadership advocating for $200 million in emergency (non-disaster) funding before the end of the year to address the growing waitlists for OAA senior nutrition programs. This funding would provide nearly 75 million additional meals and serve almost 650,000 more older adults. Congress is slated to return November 12th and has a lot on its plate. It has just one month to approve FY25 appropriations bills before the current Continuing Resolution expires on December 20th. The CR holds funding for all programs at FY24 levels and we are hoping for increased funding in the final FY25 bill.
- While we’re advocating for increased funding in FY25, there’s still money on the table your program may be eligible for. Pandemic-era State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) will disappear on December 31 if not used! This was allocated to state, local, Tribal, and territorial governments to use in providing assistance to nonprofits and others. What you can do: Use the National Council of Nonprofits’ guide to secure remaining funds before the December 31 deadline! This is separate from OAA-specific ARPA funds disbursed by State Units on Aging, which we will have an update on in our next bulletin.
Oct 17, 2024 | Age & Dementia Friendly, News, Public Health
We all know what it’s like to be mired in the day-to-day demands that make it increasingly hard to see the forest for the trees and to maintain the vitality of our connection to the meaning of our work.
But there are unique ideas and programs aiming to improve how we build a society that is livable for older adults that are brilliantly worthy of our attention. They encourage us to slow down and take the time to grow our compassion through the extraordinary experiences of others.
A couple programs of this nature came to my attention in the past week: Gold Coats and the living experiment that inspired the Human Forever documentary film (2024).
Gold Coats
The Gold Coat program, based at the California Men’s Colony State Prison in San Luis Obispo, trains inmates to provide a high standard of care for their fellow inmates who are living with dementia and other cognitive disorders. Testimony from the Gold Coats provides extremely moving insight about the power of caring for others in the most trying circumstances.
Human Forever
Teun Toebes, a 25-year-old Dutch nursing student and now an international spokesperson on dementia and healthcare innovation, lived in a closed ward memory care unit in a Dutch nursing home for three years. He wrote a book about that experience and then toured the world with independent filmmaker Jonathan de Jong to learn about international models of care and to create the film Human Forever (2024).
Teun Toebes’ book about his experiences: The Housemates: Everything One Young Student Learnt about Love, Care and Dementia from Living in a Nursing Home
Go ahead—give yourself permission to learn a little bit about creative and innovative ways to provide care and special experiences for people living with dementia.
Oct 4, 2024 | Economic Security & Outreach Blog, Health Insurance, Medicare, News
Chances are if you’re an Outreach Coordinator you’ve helped someone with a MassHealth application: a daunting task under any circumstance.
The Massachusetts Health Care Training Forum provides regularly updated information via trainings to staff members of community-based agencies—including COAs—and health care organizations. Their trainings cover topics that either are directly related to MassHealth or are adjacent.
The MHCTF website hosts webinar videos and slide shows from past presentations such as:
- How to Apply for Long Term Care
- MassHealth 2023-24 Redeterminations and Renewals
- Understanding the Medicare Savings Program
- Understanding Immigration Requirements and Application Completion for Health Insurance Coverage in MA
There are opportunities to register for their live, virtual meetings. October’s offerings that could be useful to Outreach Coordinators and SHINE Counselors are:
- MassHealth & Health Safety Net Updates
- Medicare in 2025
- Disability Evaluation Services Overview & MassHealth
Click here to register for the MTF meetings
Sep 13, 2024 | Digital Equity, News
The digital divide experienced by many older adults in MA and the epidemic of loneliness have at least one relationship: access to one would alleviate the other. That is, the availability of low-cost, high-speed internet service would greatly increase human to human connectivity of isolated older adults. Another synergy that some COAs in MA are already utilizing is connecting young people—teens or college-age young adults—with older adults to provide tutorials in tech skills.
Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly in Boston is doing just that in public senior housing complexes. In their words, “LBFE Boston helps prevent social isolation by offering free, intergenerational, digital equity, and arts programs to older adults in public/affordable senior housing and community centers.” Tech access and training provides benefits such as mental stimulation, reduced isolation, empowerment, and skills needed for the job market, transportation, navigating medical appointments & records, and more.
Their Digital Dividends program offers instruction in Zoom, Google Maps, Uber/Lyft, AI tools, G-Suite (including Gmail), and Microsoft Office applications. Classes are held once a week for an hour, Monday through Friday, typically between 12 PM and 5 PM. Each older adult receives a free laptop and reliable internet access. With the support of younger participants, they build and expand their tech knowledge. In 2023 alone, Digital Dividends conducted more than 222 digital literacy training sessions in both English and Spanish. For a closer look, check out this recent story about one of their programs in South Boston.
Digital Dividends has been supported by a grant from the Massachusetts Broadband Institute and the state, administered through the Digital Equity Partnerships Program. Funds from this grant paid for Chromebooks and mobile hotspots for the older adult participants in these classes.
The need for programs like this is even more acute now that the federally funded Affordable Connectivity Program has come to an end (April 2024). COA staff serve people who lack personal access to high speed internet, and they see the disadvantages that come with that. A leader in this arena is the MA Healthy Aging Collaborative, which offers quarterly meetings on the topic of older adults and technology access, to which COA staff members are welcome.
Sign up for their newsletter to stay tuned for meeting dates, and check out the MHAC blog, which regularly offers pieces on digital equity and technology access for older adults. If you want to grow your understanding of this issue and what’s currently being done in Massachusetts to help older adults gain affordable broadband access and other important connectivity resources, read the Community Resources Guide: Technology Access and Programming for Older Adults (Sept. 2021).
Is your COA working on enhancing digital equity for older adults in your community? Are you harnessing the power of young people for this work? We’d love to learn about your creative efforts on MCOA’s InfoHub Forum!
Note: Photo used with the permission of LBFE Boston.
Sep 3, 2024 | Education & Training, Events, Member Services, News
MCOA and Dementia Friendly Massachusetts are co-sponsoring “Let’s Talk about Dementia and Culture 2024.”
This virtual symposium is brought to you by Dementia Friends Massachusetts, and will be held on Tuesday, October 29, 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Zoom.
This year’s theme is: Brain Health for All Communities.
Join researchers, advocates living with dementia, public health leaders, and community-based dementia educators as we explore current evidence-based tips for brain health, how these link to the structural and social determinants of health, and what research and life experience tell us about continuing to live well with a dementia diagnosis.
Register in advance on Zoom here. Attendance is free. CEUs will be available for a fee – check here for updates. Simultaneous interpretation in Spanish, and captions in English and most other languages available.
Contact Beth at bsoltzberg@jfcsboston.orgwith questions.
Aug 13, 2024 | Events, Member Services, News
MCOA Membership Meeting Via Zoom September 5, 2024 | 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Agenda
10:00 Welcome
- Emily Shea, MCOA Board Chair
10:05 Art Pharmacy
- Adrienne Hundley, Head of Community Strategy
10:50 MCOA New Training Series
- Andrea Cordis, Training and Education Manager
11:00 An Introduction to Behavioral Health Training for Councils on Aging
Interim Chief, Division of Geriatric Psychiatry, Director of Digital Psychiatry Translation, Director, Technology and Aging Lab
McLean Hospital
11:45 Business Meeting
- Betsy – Legislative Updates
- Vote – Board and Regional Reps
- Sharon Mercurio/Board
- Sharon Rice/Regional Rep
- Cynthia Tarail/Regional Rep
- Lisa Clark Viklund/Regional Rep
12:00* Please note the Advisory Council will meet from 12:00 – 12:30 pm
Please note the Advisory Council will meet from 12:00 – 12:30 pm with a separate meeting link.
Don’t have an MyMCOA Infohub account yet? Contact Kelly Burke, Member Services Manager (Kelly@mcoaonline.org) or Paula Hersey, Digital Communications Manager (paula@mcoaonline.org)
Jul 19, 2024 | Age & Dementia Friendly, Housing, News
The mic-drop moment at the July 11 Outreach meeting was when the presenter, Tim O’Reilly, who manages building projects for Backyard ADUs, shared that Massachusetts’ Home Modification Loan Program (HMLP) will provide 0% interest loans of up to $50K to eligible households for the building of accessory dwelling units.
Older or disabled adults who are interested in making changes to their homes to increase their long-term, at-home independence, may apply to the program.
Additionally, household members who are not disabled or over 60 can submit applications for home modifications or the creation of accessory dwelling units (free-standing or in the existing home) that will aid older adults or people with disabilities in their households.
Distinct from a home repair program, HMLP provides loans that support projects that may include: ramp and lifts, bathroom and kitchen adaptations, sensory integration spaces, fencing, and, as noted, accessory dwelling units. It’s all about increasing accessibility.
The HMLP is administered for the state by the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC), which in turn has delegated the processing of applications to regional agencies. For a list of regional provider agencies and eligibility and application information, see the program brochure.
More general information on the program can be found on CEDAC’s HMLP webpage.
2023 Income Limits
| Household size |
Maximum Annual Income |
| 1 |
$207,800 |
| 2 |
$237,600 |
| 3 |
$267,200 |
| 4 |
$296,800 |
| 5 |
$320,600 |
| 6 |
$344,400 |
| 7 |
$368,200 |
| 8 |
$391,800 |
Jul 5, 2024 | Housing, Mental Health, News, Resource finding
Some may remember that in March of this year the US Senate’s Special Committee on Aging distributed an RFI, seeking written testimony from people with lived experience and other stakeholders on the effects of hoarding. Committee members have finished their report, and responses from Massachusetts were strong. You can read or download the report here:
The Consequences of Clutter: How Hoarding Disorder Affects America’s Older Adults, First Responders, and their Communities
The report is long; one way to dip in is to start with the statements from people in Massachusetts—all of the pieces of the report are conveniently hyperlinked in the table of contents, and you can search for any word using ctrl/F on your keyboard. You will probably recognize some names of well-known hoarding disorder advocates and experts from MA. The statement written by members of the MA Hoarding Resource Network Steering Committee can be found on page B-106.
There are several statements from task forces around the country, and federal support for hoarding task forces is the top recommendation in the report:
SAMHSA and ACL should provide training, guidance, and technical assistance
regarding HD. Although HD is relevant to the mission of the Substance Abuse
and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Administration for
Community Living (ACL), neither agency identified programs specific to the con-
dition. SAMHSA and ACL should develop training, technical assistance, and other
guidance for social service providers, health care providers, and first responders
on how to respond to HD. Technical assistance should include tips and training for
professionals likely to encounter people with HD. Technical assistance should also
include guidance for communities on establishing a coordinated, evidence-based
response to HD – including best practices for forming and sustaining hoarding task
forces (page 43)
The statements from people living with hoarding disorder are particularly powerful and support the idea that with consistent, skilled assistance, people living with this disorder can make meaningful change in their lives.
May 30, 2024 | Education & Training, Events, News
Based on valuable feedback from our network, the MCOA is seeking proposals for facilitated round table discussions at the upcoming Fall Conference!
What are Facilitated Round Table Discussions?
These small-group sessions will provide a platform for in-depth conversations on specific issues. As the facilitator, you’ll guide the discussion, ensuring a productive and engaging experience for all participants. Network and connect with colleagues from across the state.
Examples of Possible Discussion Topics:
- Innovative Programs for Senior Wellness: Share successful initiatives that promote physical, mental, and emotional health among seniors. Discuss how to implement these programs in various communities.
- Technology and Aging: Explore the latest technological advancements that can aid the elderly in maintaining independence and staying connected. Discuss best practices for introducing and teaching new technology to seniors.
- Intergenerational Engagement: Discuss strategies to foster meaningful interactions between different age groups, and how these interactions can benefit both seniors and younger generations.
- Challenges in Caregiver Support: Address the unique challenges faced by caregivers of the elderly. Share resources, support networks, and strategies for providing effective assistance.
- Advocacy and Policy Updates: Stay informed about recent policy changes affecting the aging population. Discuss how to advocate for seniors’ rights and needs at the local and state levels.
Why Participate?
- Professional Development: Enhance your facilitation skills and gain insights from your peers.
- Networking: Build connections with professionals across the aging network.
- Collaborative Learning: Contribute to and benefit from the collective knowledge and experiences of your colleagues.
We look forward to hearing your ideas and making the MCOA Fall Conference a truly collaborative event!
May 21, 2024 | Events, Member Services, News
MCOA Membership Meeting | Via Zoom June 6, 2024 | 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Agenda
10:00 Welcome
- Emily Shea, MCOA Board Chair
10:05 Remote Access to Vote
- Tatum Pritchard, Director of Litigation, Disability Law Center, Inc.
10:20 My Healthy Brain: Lifestyle Habits that Promote Brain Health with Aging
- Ryan Mace, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychology
Center for Health Outcomes and Interdisciplinary Research (CHOIR)
Massachusetts General Hospital
Harvard Medical School
- Nicole McGurin, Programs & Services Director
Alzheimer’s Association, MA/NH Chapter
11:20 Business Meeting
- Betsy – Legislative Updates
12:00 * Please note the Advisory Council will meet from 12:00 – 12:30 pm
