Chair: Christine Fruhauf Discussant: Tina Newsham It takes fortitude for GSA members to embrace engagement in their academic roles. Engagement is the opportunity for informing and enhancing research, teaching, and service, and policy by actively participating in activities that connect students with external partners and the community. In this AGHE Presidential Symposium, leading scholars whose grit and determination to embrace engagement will address the important role engagement has in uplifting gerontology and geriatrics education. Elinor Schoenfeld and colleagues will provide insights into their innovative, multidisciplinary approach to teaching students about community engagement, technology, and data security as it relates to supporting older adults living in their homes. Taylor Jansen will discuss incorporating Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Mapping into gerontology research and teaching both undergraduate and graduate students, as she works closely with community partners in several states across the U.S. to uplift their programming and policy work. José Carrión-Baralt will describe the process he and his colleagues embraced as they coordinated efforts across several universities and health professions to support older adults after hurricanes Irma and Maria hit Puerto Rico in 2017, through the development of a team called Brigadas Salubristas (Public Health Brigades). Shannon Jarrott will highlight ways to engage students in local, state, and federal aging policy through decades of engaged work addressing intergenerational programming. AGHE Chair Tina Newsham will serve as discussant, sharing how AGHE will continue to embrace fortitude and support educational efforts and opportunities through engaged teaching, research, service, and policy.
United States,2. Stony Brook University,Stony Brook,New York,United States Novel and innovative methods are needed to introduce our youth to what roles they can play in supporting our aging population, whether it be in a professional or personal role. To engage college lowerclassmen in discussions about aging, a multidisciplinary team of faculty from the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Schools of Medicine, Nursing, and Social Welfare developed a 10-week seminar entitled "Smart Aging -at the Intersection of Technology and Healthcare." Students were introduced to community engagement, modern sensing, and analytics technologies for physiologic and physical data, concerns about data security and privacy issues related to technology use, and issues faced by older adults aging at home, including social isolation and social determinants of health. Students learned the process of developing vignettes/personas related to aging in place and how technology may help overcome an identified aging-in-place challenge. To learn about agingin-place outside of class, students were asked to speak with family members or neighbors about aging. Each week students were asked to share and discuss what they have learned about aging in place from their explorations. At the end of the course, students presented their own vignettes/personas and graded the other students' work. We are currently taking lessons learned to develop a similar multidisciplinary graduate-level course. During this presentation, we will share our experiences with teaching a cohort of freshman and sophomores about aging and share some of their vignettes/ personas to highlight their perceptions about and insights into aging.
Abstract citation ID: igae098.1392
Taylor Jansen 1 , Chae Man Lee 2 , Nina Silverstein 3 , and Elizabeth Dugan 1 , 1. University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 2. University of Connecticut, Farmington, Connecticut, United States,
In gerontology, research frameworks like the life course perspective and social determinants of health (SDOH) are often used to contextualize aging and health outcomes in later life. Increasingly, an emphasis on data visualization has been put on research to have practical value. Geographic information systems (GIS), a mapping software, is one data visualization tool researchers can utilize in their work to understand what role place, space, and built environment have on health throughout the lifespan and in later life. Incorporating GIS training into gerontology research allows for students to learn data visualization, but also to apply their teachings of the life course perspective and SDOH to further understand the impact on health in later life. In this presentation, the aims are twofold: 1) explain the practical uses of GIS in gerontological research, with examples from recent work by the Healthy Aging Data Reports, and 2) describe the process of engaging undergraduate and graduate students in research, teaching, service, and policy through GIS mapping. Firstly, examples of how GIS mapping has provided communities and states with information on their aging populations will be examined. Examples of how community stakeholders in New England, Mississippi, and Wyoming have used maps to implement interventions and advocate for policy change will be described to demonstrate the practical implications of mapping for policy change. Then, best practices of teaching and training undergraduate and graduate students on using GIS mapping for gerontological research will be offered, alongside anecdotal evaluations from students on the experience.
Abstract citation ID: igae098.1393
In September of 2017, two category 5 hurricanes hit Puerto Rico. These hurricanes caused massive destruction and close to 5,000 excess deaths. Thousands of people lost everything, and many communities were isolated for weeks. The whole island was without electric power for several days, and some areas in the mountains did not get power back for 6-8 months. Hopelessness started to take over. The bravery and drive of a community leader who came asking for our help was the spark we needed to stand up and get going. Dozens of our students delivered food, water, medications, and healthcare services to those in need for several months. In January of 2020 these students and faculty went back to work in full force after a series of devastating earthquakes shook the island. And, to this day, our team still visits some of these communities, just to check on them and refer people with significant needs to the appropriate agencies. All this without skipping a beat in our academic work. Where did we find the fortitude to keep going with our community work AND our academic work? We did have three main sources of inspiration: 1) community leaders who rose above every possible challenge; 2) the communities themselves; and 3) our students and colleagues. The key behind this amazing response was that those of us who work in service professions thrive when we are needed. And our students certainly shone in the darkest period our island has lived in for many decades.
Abstract citation ID: igae098.1394
Students pursuing social sciences degrees because of a desire to improve individual, family, and community circumstances should learn how policy impacts their efforts. I offer examples of teaching, research, and service that orient students to gerontological policy at the organizational, state, and national levels. Examples illustrate fortitude of students, older adults, and organizations in the face of emergent need and opportunity. At the organizational level, students engaged in service at an intergenerational day program for children and older adults developed a satellite food pantry in response to intergenerational need for healthy food access. At the state level, the Ohio the