UMaine Center on Aging Announces Spring 2005 Education Series
Contact: Leah Ruffin, 581-2249, George Manlove, 581-3756
ORONO — Healthy Productive Aging is the theme of this year’s University of Maine Center on Aging’s Spring 2005 continuing education series, running May11-June 22 in Augusta, Belfast, Bucksport, Orono and Presque Isle.
This year the center is offering the Professional Excellence in Geriatrics Series (PEGS) in combination with the Geriatric Organizational Leadership Development Seminar (GOLD). In addition, the center is also offering three free workshops through the “Rural Social Work and Aging: The Skills You Need to Know” series, funded by Boston University’s Institute for Geriatric Social Work (IGSW).
The continuing education series is geared to anyone with an interest in geriatric care who wants to learn about a multitude of new theories and clinical approaches to improve quality of life and care for the aging. Leah Ruffin, senior research associate at the Center on Aging and program coordinator, says the program will appeal to the public, in addition to professionals who work with aging populations.
The theme, she says, “parallels the center’s mission in changing the way people in Maine view aging — from people who are sick and frail to a new view of people living to their fullest and being healthy and productive members of our society.”
Aging, she says, should be celebrated, not feared.
For anyone interested in rural gerontology, the three free IGSW Sessions 1, 8, and 10 will be particularly interesting, according to Ruffin.
The series’ second session starts with a gala dinner at Dirigo Pines in Orono. The 2005 program also covers new geographic locations east and north thanks to community partners.
Participants receive a certificate of attendance for each individual session and they may register for this year’s sessions by email, fax or regular mail. More information, including driving directions, is available on the Internet at www.mainecenteronaging.org.
Registrations should be sent to the attention of Robin Arnold, the University of Maine Center on Aging, 5723 Donald P. Corbett Business Building, Orono, ME 04469-5723.
The center can be reached by telephone at (207) 581-3444.
Costs for PEGS and GOLD sessions are $40 per session or $70 per day. For partner agency employees and Maine Gerontological Society members, registration if $35 per session and $60 per day. The rate for students and retired or unemployed people is $20 per session or $35 per day. Walk-in registrations are welcome. Registration fees cover materials and a certificate of attendance, but participants should plan for their own lunches.
The schedule of programs is as follows:
Session 1
May 11, UMaine Presque Isle, 1-3:30 p.m., “Rural Aging: Social Work Practice Models & Intervention Skills,” (a free IGSW program) with Kim Anne Perkins, director of the UMPI School of Social Work.
Session 2
May 12, Dirigo Pines, Orono, 5:30-7:30 p.m., PEGS Gala Dinner and “Healthy Productive Aging,” with Katherine Musgrave, professor emeritus, UMaine Food Sciences and Nutrition. This event is the program’s kick-off celebration, which includes a full dinner at Dirigo Pines, after which Musgrave will present an overview of this year’s theme, Healthy Productive Aging.
Session 3
May 13, Dirigo Pines, 9-11:30 a.m., “A Community Response to Elder Abuse,” with Francine Stark, community response coordinator at Spruce Run.
Session 4
May 13, Dirigo Pines, 1-3:30 p.m., “Healthy Maine People 2010,” with Katherine Musgrave.
Session 5
May 18, Hutchinson Center, Belfast, 9-11:30 a.m., “Healthy Maine Partnerships,” with Amy Wagner, community health improvement coordinator and director of the Waldo County Healthcare Inc. Healthy Living Project.
Session 6
May 18, Hutchinson Center, 3-5:30 p.m., “Hospice &Palliative Care,” with Kandyce Powell, executive director, Maine Hospice Council and executive director, Maine Center for End of Life Care.
Session 7
June 13, the new Department of Health and Human Services building, Augusta, 9-11:30 a.m., “Health & Wellness for Older Adults: Exercise Programs that Work,” with Jane Harris Bartley, director of RSVP of Hancock, Penobscot, Piscataquis and Washington counties.
Session 8
June 13, DHHS, Augusta, 1-3:30 p.m., “Empowering Older Adults in Rural Areas: Social Work Advocacy Techniques,” (a free IGSW program) with Brenda Gallant, executive director, Catherine Valcourt, legal counsel, State Long Term Care Ombudsman Program, Nadine Grasso, director of communications, Maine Health Care Association, Tom Kane, former chair of the Maine House of Representatives’ Health and human Services Committee.
Session 9
June 16, Jewett School Community Center, Bucksport, 9-11:30 a.m.., “Differential Diagnosis in Dementia,” with Amy Cotton, director, Rosscare Center for Healthy Aging, Eastern Maine Healthcare.
Session 10
June 16, Jewett School Community Center, 1-3:30 p.m., “Using Research in Rural Aging: Evidence-Based Social Work Practice,” (a free IGSW program) with Len Kaye, director, UMaine Center on Aging.
Session 11
June 22, Dirigo Pines, 9-10:45 a.m., “For Supervisors: Strategies for Difficult Conversations,” with Polly Moutevelis-Burgess, director, UMaine Employee Assistance Program.