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Salud Sin Edad Beneficiarios Actuales

An Initiative of the Paso del Norte Health Foundation

The Ageless Health Initiative is a cooperative project between the Paso del Norte Health Foundation and the Rio Grande Area Agency on Aging.  The Initiative develops or expands volunteer-based projects that promote independent, healthy living and prevention of isolation for persons 60 years and older in the Paso del Norte region. The Initiative also works to effect attitudinal change about aging, both in the general community and among seniors themselves.  For more information on the Paso del Norte Health Foundation, visit www.pdnhf.org.

            The ultimate goal of the Ageless Health Initiative is to help establish long-term improvements in the health status of the 60-and-over population.  Through education and prevention activities, the Initiative also helps prepare for the impact of aging “baby boomers” on the region’s healthcare and social service delivery systems.  The Paso del Norte region served by the Initiative includes El Paso and Hudspeth Counties in far west Texas; Dońa Ana and Otero Counties in southern New Mexico; and Ciudad Juarez in northern Chihuahua, Mexico.

            The Initiative is founded on the concepts and principles of Successful & Creative Aging.  These concepts and principles are based on research demonstrating that successful and creative aging involve 1) avoiding or lowering the risk of disease, disease-related disability, and accident-related injury; 2) maintaining high levels of cognitive and physical function; 3) maintaining an active engagement with life; and 4) maximizing the creative potential that accompanies later years. 

Thus, the Ageless Health Initiative seeks to change the prevailing stereotype of aging from illness, isolation, debility, dependence, and loneliness to independence, involvement, prevention, and wellness in order to increase the span and enhance the quality of a healthy life.

            The Initiative supports programs in four areas:

1.  nutrition, exercise, and physical activity

 2.  intellectual stimulation, social/emotional support, reduction of isolation

 3.  injury prevention

 4.  caregiver training in issues affecting older adults, based on Successful & Creative Aging

To review the Initiative’s current grantees and programs, click on Current Grantees. 

            Through the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging, the Ageless Health Initiative is a member of the International Council on Active Aging (www.icaa.cc).  In March, 2004, Ageless Health convened the El Paso Active Aging Collaborative.  Agencies, facilities, and individuals interested in promoting physical activity for older adults are cordially invited to participate in the Collaborative’s meetings and events.  The Collaborative also works to increase the capacity, quality and expertise of local senior fitness programming.  For more information on the importance of physical activity for older adults, see the National Blueprint: Increasing Physical Activity Among Adults Age 50 and Older (www.agingblueprint.org) and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services document Healthy People 2010 (www.aoa.gov/prof/adddiv/healthy/addiv_healthy.asp).

For more information or for additional materials, call the Ageless Health Initiative’s technical support office, (915) 533-0998 or 1-800-333-7082, extension 160; or email agelesshealth@riocog.org.  And remember to…

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