Baltimore County, MD Time of Your LIfe, 7 Mar 2017

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From YouTube: Reimagine Aging: Baltimore County Department of Aging 2017 Initiative

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Joanne E. Williams, Director
Baltimore County Department of Aging

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( ♪♪♪ ).

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Welcome to the time of your life with the baltimore county department of aging., I'm your host, ethel rasmussen..

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Today s show keeps you in the know by conveying important and interesting information about the contemporary topics.

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That will impact you, our viewing audience.

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on the show. Today we will offer information on both resources and special programs.

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debbie orlove, community business liaison at the baltimore county department of aging will talk about community resources, 2017,.

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Bcda's annual regional publication, that is printed.

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In partnership with the baltimore city, government.

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The show continues with important resources for caregiving.

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As well as support for the family caregiver.

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here to talk about the tools,, information, and strategies available for caregivers is michelle. Bruns,.

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Manager of the nfcsp caregivers program at the department of aging.

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Debbie orlove returns to conclude today's show with information about senior center travel, senior box office,.

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And what's happening at your local senior center.

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when you think about aging,? What are your thoughts?, like most, aging evokes images we have of when we were watching television.

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Or perhaps what we see in the newspapers or magazines.

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With those thoughts in mind, we're excited to kick off. Today's show.

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With information about bcda's, 2017, initiative.,.

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Joanne williams,, director of the baltimore county department of aging,.

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With explain, bcda's new initiative to change the way you perceive aging.

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Joanne, welcome to the show. thank you, ethel.. The department of aging is known to identify a specific topic for their annual initiative as a way to promote awareness.

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And educate the public with facts they need to support successful aging..

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Can you share the details supporting bcda's, 2017 initiative,.

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As well as why this topic was selected?, sure. well, 2017 is like none other year.

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So, after a lot of conversations with our staff,.

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With other professionals, in the field of aging,, with our commissions and boards, and, of course, with older adults, that we serve,.

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We decided to tackle a big challenge: --.

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One that's actually been around for decades:.

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How do we best showcase the diverse and talented population.

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In baltimore county that we call "older adults?".

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How do we show and help them understand that they are still vibrant parts of the community and very much,.

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You know, an active part of who we are in baltimore county.

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So in talking about ageism, stereotypes,.

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Can you provide some examples of how older adults are portrayed?.

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Sure. just simply,, you know, it's important to keep in mind that.

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Not all older adults use walkers and canes or need hearing aids.

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They're, again,, vibrant and active.

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You know, the days of sitting back in a rocking chair on the front porch.

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And just watching life go by,. Those days are long. Gone.

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Older adults enjoy things like traveling and dancing;.

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They like to teach to dance. they like to teach others about the wisdom and the things that they've learned to do over the years..

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They volunteer. many go back to work for paid employment,, but many do volunteer, sit on commissions and boards, committees.

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And they contribute and help, like the department of aging,.

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To make major decisions about trends and what we should be focusing on as we serve the county.

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So, the initiative "reimagine aging", is an important campaign.

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Can you talk about some of the details of what will be offered throughout 2017?

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sure. we, in a sense, have stepped up our own game.

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We're first taking a step back and re-educating ourselves as staff.

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And those who serve older adults, so that we are--.

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Have a better understanding of what our clients' needs and interests? Are.

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we've developed a new logo. -- you'll see that on a lot of our printed material --, we have a website, we're up to date with facebook,.

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We have a wonderful facebook, page;, we're looking to feature individuals who are breaking through the stereotypes.

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And we're looking to feature them in our senior digest.

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It's called "changing the face of aging" and there's a nomination form available,, as you can see,.

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At baltimorecountymd.gov/reimagineaging.

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So if you know of anyone who is, again, breaking the stereotype,.

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Doing something really interesting for the first time,, please let us know. we'd like to feature them and like to share their information to help encourage others.. That sounds like a lot of fun.

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I know there's also a professional conference being offered in association with this initiative..

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Can you talk about that a little bit?? Well, each year the department of aging hosts a conference.

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Which is geared towards professionals who work in the aging field and network and who have hands-on,.

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First-Line, front-line experience, administrative experience.

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Working with older adults. so, of course, this year's conference, we intend to have a keynote speaker.

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And workshops so that we can inspire.

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And encourage more of the same type of conversation about the changing face of aging.

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I know there's a lot of special programs associated with the initiative,.

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One of which is the silver pen writing contest..

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Can you tell our viewers about that? well, we're excited about encouraging those.

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Who have written poetry, written essays.

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You need only be 60 years of age or older.

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We ask that your work be created in 2017.

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We will be displaying all of the entries at our senior expo,.

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Which is our big two-day event coming up in october.

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So, again,: this is another venue,. Another way that we can share.

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The stories of individuals who are still doing great things.

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Well into their 60s and 70s and 80s and beyond.

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Wonderful. in closing,, do you have anything else.

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That you would like to share about the "reimagine aging" campaign?.

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Well,, I just would like everyone, to, again,, reimagine aging,, when you think about it,, think about how we can better serve our clientele,.

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And I think this initiative will help dispel.

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Or lessen some of the fear and anxiety that people have.

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About growing older and how that will impact them.

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And their role in the community. so, we're going to be looking at the very positive aspects of aging.

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And hoping that we'll make this a contagious thing for everyone.

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To think about and reimagine aging.

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Wonderful. thank you, joanne, for taking time out of your busy schedule to be with us. Today. no problem. thank you. we're going to take a short break. when we return, learn about bcda's latest publication.

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