APRIL 2023

Healthy Aging Grants Issue Brief
Talking Points & Sample Letter/Email
County-Level Falls Data
Find your State Legislator

Action Alert! Healthy Aging Grants Week Starts April 17th



Contact Your State Legislators to Support Healthy Aging Grants

As discussed at Office Hours (see link below right), the Governor's budget included a $600,000 annual appropriation for Healthy Aging Grants. This funding would support evidence-based health promotion programs for healthy aging including falls prevention, chronic disease self-management, and physical activity programs and initiatives in Wisconsin. Now we need your help to ensure that legislators know the importance of this funding. Please contact your State Senator and State Representative - during the week of April 17th if possible, but anytime through May - to ask that they support Healthy Aging Grants in this biennial budget. To help with your communication, check out the information in the links.


Thanks for all you do to support healthy aging. If you have questions, contact Kris Krasnowski

Consumer News

AgeWell

WIHA recently launched an online newsletter that we’re distributing via email to past program participants. In addition to information on WIHA programs and links to our Find A Workshop (where they can find local programs), the newsletter will also include tips and strategies for healthy living.


Check out the first issue below. Several people have asked about creating printable version for the newsletter for local use. Because articles include links that would be challenging to produce in a printed document, we ask that you contact Erin Eggert if you would like to republish any of the articles and we’ll send you a text version. 

AgeWell Newsletter

Volunteerism & Health

Volunteers are an important component to the success and expansion of our work. Whether they are trained facilitators or are assisting in workshop logistics or participant recruitment, they are an incredibly important part of our health promotion team. WIHA would like to formerly thank each and every volunteer who is involved in implementing evidence-based programs in our communities across Wisconsin and nationwide.

As program providers, volunteer recruitment and retention can often be viewed as a task to help us offer health education programming and services. But what if it’s much more than that? Could volunteerism be a health education intervention itself?!

Research shows that engaging in volunteer work has a significant positive impact on our health and here is why:

· Volunteering improves not only mental health, but physical health as well. Studies show volunteering has a favorable effects on depression, life satisfaction, and overall wellbeing. Some studies even show improvement in mortality rates for those who volunteer.

· Engaging in any volunteer opportunities is beneficial, but those who participant in continuous volunteering and those who shifted from inactive-to-active volunteering show better physical function and less depression.

· Volunteering provides a sense of purpose (vocational/career wellness) and teaches valuable skills (intellectual wellness).

· Engaging in volunteer opportunities can nurture new and existing relationships (social wellness)


We have an incredibly opportunity to improve the health and wellness of our community by offering meaningful volunteer work, with a special focus on older volunteers. Research demonstrates that older adults experience greater increases in life satisfaction and self-esteem than younger generations, yet 76% of retirees don’t volunteer at all! So let’s get the word out!


You can find volunteer recruitment, retention, and recognition resources at www.wihealthyaging.org, located on the Program Resources page for Professionals. 

If you missed it . . .

WIHA Office Hours

If you weren't able to join us for April’s Office Hours, you can catch up by checking out the recording. This month we heard from Localizing Efforts to Address Falls (LEAF) grantees who updated us on their falls prevention projects. We discussed the progress of the Falls Free WI Center Coalition and advocacy efforts for supporting state budget funding via the Healthy Aging Grants (see article in this issue). Finally, we focused on the bi-directional benefits of volunteering and broke into groups to talk about strategies for engaging volunteers to enhance provider capacity to deliver programs. Thanks to all who participated and shared both challenges and best practices for volunteer recruitment and retention. 



As always, if you have questions, please contact us.

Get Involved!

Interested in being a part of statewide efforts to support healthy aging initiatives? 


Consider joining the Falls Free Wisconsin Coalition and/or the Wisconsin Coalition to End Social Isolation and Loneliness. These groups are taking a collective impact approach to these issues but with a focus on strategies that can be deployed locally.


Learn more and join us! 

Falls Free WI Coalition Membership
WCESIL Membership

Don't forget to check out the 2023 Facilitator Training Calendar!

WIHA FACILITATOR TRAINING INFORMATION
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Program Questions?

Contact WIHA's program staff leads for answers!

Chronic Conditions

Staff Leads


Jill Renken

Amie Rein


PROGRAMS:


Living Well w/ Chronic Conditions

Tomando Control de su Salud


Healthy Living w/ Diabetes

Vivir Saludable con Diabetes


Healthy Living w/ Chronic Pain


Mind Over Matter: Healthy Bowels, Healthy Bladder

Physical Activity

Staff Lead


Erin Eggert

PROGRAMS:


Physical Activity for

Lifelong Success (PALS)


Stand Up & Move More


Walk With Ease

Falls Prevention

Staff Leads


Erin Eggert

Suzanne Schreiner


PROGRAMS:



Stepping On

Pisando Fuerte



Caregiver Support

Lead

Powerful Tools for Caregivers

Thank You, WIHA Leadership Circle!

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our subscriber list.


Email Kris Krasnowski.

Give

Thanks for all you do to support healthy aging in your community. If you're interested in making a contribution to the work of the Wisconsin Institute for Healthy Aging, please visit the link below. 
Make a contribution

Healthy People 2030 Champion is a

service mark of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Used with permission. Participation by WIHA does not imply endorsement by HHS/ODPHP.