Welcome to the newly re-named team that focuses on age-related issues!
Over the last few months, a new team of team co-chairs, Kelly Fitzgerald, PhD and Tam Thompson-Steckel, has been working to revise the Transitions: Growing Older Team into the newly named Global Aging Team. Ali Weihofen, LCSW, MPH has been a significant contributor to the development of the newly revised team and will continue to contribute to the team on an ongoing basis as a team member and as an alternate to either one of the co-chairs if they become unable to complete their duties. These team leaders are re-thinking the group’s mission as well as short and long term goals. Their first task was to create a new name for the team, which was approved by the FAWCO board. They are now finalizing their mission, which will be shared on the FAWCO website soon. Along with the mission, they will include an 'about us' page, photos, and a framework for the sharing of future information. They plan to also create documents for the website which will include useful web links, events, project ideas, and anything else that they find might be useful to members. This might include information about ageing activities conducted by other clubs. They are also working on a team e-bulletin to be sent on a regular basis to subscribers, so please go on the FAWCO website and subscribe to their bulletin. This will hopefully draw interest to the team.
Kelly, Tam, and Ali, who are all located in Zürich, Switzerland, have varying gerontological experiences. Kelly has a Doctorate in Gerontology and specializes in research on disasters and older adults in health care settings such as nursing homes. She is a Guest Scientist at the University of Zürich’s Center for Gerontology in Switzerland. Kelly is responsible for developing and conducting research related to how health care practitioners can better improve their response to their older clients in the event of a major disaster such as a flood or earthquake. Prior to moving to Zürich, she was the coordinator for the Older People and Ageing Research and Development Network in Wales (OPAN Cymru) (UK) where she was responsible for increasing the aging research capacity in Wales. Tam has extensive experience working in nursing homes where she was responsible for developing art and music therapy for residents with dementia. Although she has not been active in the field over the last few years, she is in the process of getting back into it now that she is finally moved and adjusted into her new country! Ali was Director of Business Development for Northeast Health Services, Inc, a group of mental health clinics in Massachusetts, prior to moving to Switzerland. She is a licensed certified social worker (LCSW) and also has a master’s in public health (MPH). Ali has a special interest in the aging population and spent three years working at the Institute for Geriatric Social Work at Boston University. Their collective knowledge covers many topics in the ageing field, but is by no means exhaustive. To address this, they plan to have US based ageing experts as “contributing consultants,” to the group. Consultants will provide a direct link to aging policies and issues occurring in the US, as well as, answer questions from FAWCO members. So far, they have one confirmed consultant who is in Washington DC and works for the U.S. Administration on Aging. At least two other consultants will be recruited.
If you are interested in subscribing to join the team and receive news about it or have information to share with the team members, please email . Or if you are working on an age-related project in your country that you would like to share with other FAWCO members, please also send this information. There will be a special section on the FAWCO/Global Aging website dedicated to these projects. Finally October 1 is the International Day of Older Persons. This is an important day and should be celebrated by all – remember everyone is aging! If you hold an event with your local FAWCO chapter celebrating this day and would like to share the outcome of it with the team, please send information and pictures. Additionally, if you would like some ideas on possible events you could hold, such as a friendly visit to a local nursing home, please contact the team at .
Submitted by: Kelly Fitzgerald and Tam Thompson-Steckel