Healthy Aging Partnership launches unique, free information campaign for Puget Sound area senior citizens

Healthy Aging Partnership news release SEATTLE – Puget Sound seniors today got a boost on living longer, healthier, more active lives with the Healthy Aging Partnership's (external link) launch of a new information and assistance line — 1-888-4ELDERS. The toll-free number gives callers in King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties free, confidential answers to questions that arise in their daily lives. For example: How to get help in dealing with government agencies, Social Security and Medicare. Where to go for health care, dental care or immunizations. How to stay healthy and active. How to find services like meal delivery or shopping assistance. Where the best options are for housing or assisted living in Puget Sound. Where to find volunteer opportunities. How to get around Puget Sound on public transportation. "Our community has a commitment to work together to care for our older citizens. The Healthy Aging Partnership information campaign helps us meet that commitment," said King County Executive Ron Sims, who helped kick off the campaign today at the Central Area Senior Center in Seattle. The Partnership, an informal coalition of public and non-profit agencies, plans to follow up the launch of 1-888-4ELDERS over the next two years with a series of health message campaigns on fall prevention, physical activity, immunizations and depression prevention. Telephone assistance and informational materials also are available in Asian languages by calling 206-695-7595 and in Spanish at 206-764-4716.

[Enlarged view] Lydia Sims and her son, King County Executive Ron Sims helped launch the Healthy Aging Partnership information and assistance line today at the Central Area Senior Center. [Enlarged view] Mrs. Sims speaks about the importance of senior assistance.

The Healthy Aging Partnership Information Campaign The Healthy Aging Partnership (HAP) is a coalition of some 25 Puget Sound-area health and social services agencies whose goal is to "support the efforts of seniors in King and adjacent counties to improve their health and quality of life through the dissemination of, and easy access to, health and social service information." By State Department of Health estimates, there are nearly 250,000 seniors (60+) in King County alone. The percentage of people over 60 in our population – now at about 14% – continues to grow each year. A sensible investment in the health and well being of this population is an investment in our entire community. Caregivers, families and friends also benefit from improved status of our senior population. In 1999, HAP took a leadership position to seed-fund and lead a process to create a communications campaign to help ensure the long-term health and well being of elders in our community. The project began with a series of focus groups for older adults and care providers to determine where they currently obtained information. Through this process, HAP identified the need for a comprehensive, sustained effort to provide information and assistance, as well as topical information, for seniors in the Puget Sound region. A three-year communications plan for the campaign was created, providing a roadmap for a well-planned, phased effort to promote a 1-888 toll-free information line, followed by the delivery of health promotion messages for fall prevention, adult immunization, physical activity and depression prevention. In 2000, HAP intends to launch the first phase of this important educational effort. The partner agencies are committed to the project's success and are continuing to provide financial support. The successful partnership approach that created HAP will continue to be modeled as the Information Campaign joins with select businesses and organizations in the Puget Sound region to secure private funding to share the costs of informational materials, promotion, Public Service Announcements, translation of materials for non-English-speaking populations, and other methods of reaching senior and caregiver audiences. The campaign also will depend upon the unique abilities of each HAP member agency to provide channels of information dissemination to its constituency. The HAP Information Campaign has unprecedented potential for reaching a significant number of the older adults in King, Snohomish, Pierce and Kitsap counties. For years to come, the essential messages of the campaign that are geared toward healthy aging will have a lasting impact not only on seniors, but on our entire community.

MEMBER AGENCIES AARP American Diabetes Association Asian Counseling and Referral Services Comprehensive Health Education Foundation Group Health Cooperative – Center for Health Studies Evergreen Healthcare Harborview Medical Center King County Department of Community and Human Services– Mental Health Division and Community Services Division (Aging Program) King County Executive's Office Kitsap County Division of Aging & Long Term Care National Asian Pacific Center on Aging Pierce County Aging and Long Term Care Public Health – Seattle & King County Sea Mar Community Health Center – Latino Senior Information and Assistance Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation Seattle Mayor's Council on African American Elders Seattle Mayor's Office for Senior Citizens Seattle Human Services Department, Aging and Disability Services Senior Services of Seattle/King County Snohomish County Long Term Care and Aging University of Washington Northwest Geriatric Education Center University of Washington Northwest Prevention Effectiveness Center University of Washington Stroke Prevention & Assessment Center Visiting Nurse Services of the Northwest Washington State Department of Health, Office of Health Promotion Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, Home and Community Services

Link to:

• Executive Sims' Seniors' news page

Updated: June 28, 2000