Cities and communities that are designed to maximize accessibility and inclusion are key to meeting the needs of a growing older population. At the same time, they provide opportunities for people of all ages to stay active, healthy and engaged. NYAM’s Center for Healthy Aging works at both the city and state level by asking older New Yorkers about their daily lives and developing strategies to reduce or eliminate barriers to optimize social, physical and economic participation. To learn more, view selected work below, or visit our Center for Healthy Aging microsite for more detailed work, resources and publications.
Selected Work
Geriatric Technical Assistance Center for the NYS Office of Mental Health
NYAM serves as the Geriatric Technical Assistance Center (GTAC) for six geriatric service demonstration programs funded by the New York State Office of Mental Health’s "Partnership to Support Aging in Place in Communities Severely Impacted by COVID-19" (PSAP). These programs identify, support and serve older adults age 55+ whose community tenure is at risk due to unmet needs for behavioral health and aging services, and helps them to successfully age in place in the communities of their choice. As the GTAC, NYAM is responsible for training and technical assistance focused on programmatic and fiscal strategies to support the planning, implementation, operation, and evaluation of these service demonstration programs.
Informing Infection Prevention & Control in Nursing Homes
NYAM partnered with the Yale School of Nursing (YSN), with support from Saraya Co. LTD, to advance the understanding and prevention of infections in nursing homes and other long-term care settings. Following a virtual global summit in December 2020 and the development of research and reports on this topic, NYAM and YSN released the first-of-its-kind Infection Prevention Compendium for Long-Term Care Facilities in August 2021. This digital resource hub makes a significant contribution to the development and maintenance of effective infection prevention and control by centralizing globally sourced guides, resources and toolkits that address the complex operational elements of long-term care facilities.
Visit the Compendium
National Nursing Home COVID-19 Action Network
NYAM partnered with LeadingAge New York to serve as a Training Center for the AHRQ ECHO National Nursing Home COVID-19 Action Network, an interactive community of practice for nursing home staff to collaboratively advance improvements in COVID-19 preparedness, safety and infection control in more than 100 facilities across New York State. The training center also served as a vehicle for educating nursing home staff about the vaccine.
Age-friendly NYC
Started as a public-private partnership in 2007, NYAM’s Age-friendly NYC initiative has catalyzed hundreds of changes throughout the city. We have successfully created Age-friendly Neighborhoods, increased pedestrian safety, showed thousands of businesses how to become age-friendly, and improved transportation and access to recreational and cultural resources for the city’s older adults. Age-friendly NYC was awarded “Best Existing Age-Friendly Initiative in the World” by the International Federation on Aging in 2013 and has provided strategic assistance to more than 70 cities worldwide.
Age-friendly Neighborhoods
NYAM established the Age-friendly Neighborhoods model in 2010 to develop targeted solutions to neighborhood-level issues and to support emerging grassroots initiatives driven by older people to make their communities more age-friendly. During COVID-19, we are continuing this work in partnership with the Manhattan and Brooklyn Borough Presidents and with the support of the New York State Health Foundation. We are virtually convening over 30 Age-friendly Neighborhood leaders to connect with their peers and share innovative strategies for serving their communities during COVID-19. We also awarded grants through the Age-friendly Neighborhoods Fund to support grassroots groups across NYC in connecting and serving older adults during the pandemic.
Health and Age Across All Policies
In 2018, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order requiring state entities to consider health and aging across all planning, policy and procurement decisions. Working collaboratively with New York State, we developed and launched the award-winning Health Across all Policies initiative and are providing technical assistance to 16 counties across the state as they work to incorporate healthy, age-friendly principles into their policies and programs.
Visit HAAAP Microsite
IMAGE: NYC Interactive Map of Aging
NYAM research immediately following Hurricane Sandy indicated that disaster preparedness for older adults needed significant attention. As a result, NYAM developed IMAGE: NYC, the Interactive Map of Aging—a data visualization tool that displays demographic and services data for New York City’s population aged 65 and older. Created in partnership with the CUNY Mapping Service at the Center for Urban Research/CUNY Graduate Center IMAGE:NYC is a critical tool to support funding, planning, advocacy and direct services for older adults. During COVID-19, IMAGE: NYC provided a sophisticated mapping resource to help government agencies, service providers and other professionals identify neighborhoods with specific socio-demographic risk factors for severe COVID-19 outcomes.
Visit IMAGE: NYC Microsite
Related Publications, Events & News
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