Session: Mobilizing Communities: Improving Nutrition and Increasing Physical Activity among Older Adults

5163.0: Wednesday, November 10, 2004: 2:30 PM-4:00 PM

Oral

Mobilizing Communities: Improving Nutrition and Increasing Physical Activity among Older Adults

Delaware’s Division of Services for Aging & Adults with Physical Disabilities is committed to improving the quality of life for older Delawareans. Together with a growing network of community partners, it is helping to bring this vision to life. In 1999, the Division spearheaded the Millennium March to Wellness, a comprehensive wellness initiative to increase physical activity, the consumption of fruits and vegetables, and chronic disease prevention practices among older Delawareans. These objectives were linked directly to those identified in the national and state prevention agendas (Healthy People 2010, Healthy Delaware 2010). In a collaborative effort involving state and community partners, programs and activities were developed around specific objectives. Many partners pledged to support this initiative and to participate in targeted activities that were easy to implement and sustain. Some programs (e.g. Walk Delaware, 5-A-Day) were enthusiastically adopted and branded by lead community partners (e.g. Delaware Senior Olympics) thereby ensuring the program’s sustainability and expansion. To date, over 4000 individuals and numerous walking clubs have completed our health challenges. The Division acknowledges that the success of our ongoing health initiative is due to the community partners who remain committed to the shared vision of living and aging well. Recognizing the value of building and mobilizing community partnerships, the Division continues to seek opportunities for collaboration to expand our health outreach efforts. The Division is currently collaborating with the University of Delaware and the aging network to demonstrate an outcome-based education program that promotes both physical activity and healthy nutrition.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant will be able to: 1. Identify one or more strategies for building & mobilizing community partners to support a statewide wellness initiative. 2. Describe a model public/private partnership that is successfully implementing a healthy aging program in support of a statewide wellness initiative. 3. Discuss pros and cons of building and sustaining community partnerships. 4. Describe lessons learned.

2:30 PM

SENIOR project: Stage-based intervention on exercise and diet in a large community sample of older adults
Mary L. Greaney, PhD, Phillip G. Clark, ScD, Joseph S. Rossi, PhD, Deborah Riebe, PhD, Geoffrey Greene, PhD, Sandra D. Saunders, MS, MPH, Faith D. Lees, MS

2:45 PM

Active for Life (TM): Lessons learned from a physical activity campaign for the 50+ population