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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Marjorie Buchanan, RN, MS, Environmental Health Education Center, University of Maryland School of Nursing, 655 West Lombard Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, (410) 829-2862, marjorieon@aol.com

The Legacy Leadership Institute for the Environment brings the time and talents of older adults to environmental stewardship. Created in 2003, using a model created by the University of Maryland Center on Aging, three nonprofit environmental centers on the Eastern Shore of Maryland collaborate to provide educational and field experiences for newly retired older adults. These include the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center, Adkins Arboretum, and the Pickering Creek Audubon Center. Expert environmental scientists and educators provide institute sessions, and they focus on the fragile Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. Legacy Leaders who have completed the Institute program are discovering meaningful new roles for this new phase of their lives, while simultaneously expanding the capacity of each of the participating environmental centers to provide programs and services that benefit the community and the Bay ecosystem. Program support from the Chesapeake Bay Trust, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Aging Initiative of the Environmental Protection Agency has helped further the Institute's ability to meet its goals, through funding, organizational experts who have served as faculty, and inclusion of Legacy Leaders in environmental stewardship activities. Outcomes to date include an actively engaged population of older adults, new environmental awareness and stewardship, and expanded programs and services by participating centers.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe how life-long earning and civic engagement contribute to health and wellbeing in older adults
• Discuss how environmental education, field experiences, and leadership opportunities create meaningful roles for older adults while expanding the capacity of nonprofit environmental organizations

Keywords: Environment, Public Health Nursing

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered