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Pasadena Village and the National Dialogue on Villages and Healthy Aging Research

By Ed Mervine
Posted: 07/19/2024

Cowritten with Dick Myers.

A series of six virtual summits was held in June and July to spur a national conversation on the future of healthy aging research together with Villages. California held its summit on June 27. Over 70 people attended, including eight from Pasadena Village. Each summit engaged Villages in different geographic regions of the country to explore critical questions facing Villages as they seek to demonstrate their outcomes, cultivate partnerships with researchers, and grow the movement in the years to come.  

Over 200 people participated in the first three national summits.  Numbers for the remaining three summits held in July were not available at time of writing. Participants included Village officers, professionals, members, volunteers and regional leaders, as well as research partners, funders and other interested parties.

Each of the 90-minute virtual events included the following:

•         Brief presentations from researchers: Speakers from RAND and Rutgers University’s Hub for Aging Collaboration highlighted key findings from a recent report, “Insights on Developing Research Capacity for Healthy Aging with Villages.”

•         Commentary from members of the Villages Healthy Aging Research Ambassadors group: Dick Myers and other Village leaders shared in their own voices what they view as promising directions for research for their Village and the movement more broadly.

•         Remarks from the Village to Village Network: National leaders presented their vision for how healthy aging research can help strengthen Villages as part of the future of aging in the United States. 

•         Facilitated breakout room discussions: Dick Myers, Marv Dainoff and Ed Mervine as ambassadors facilitated three of the five California Summit breakout room discussions.  Through small-group breakout rooms, participants shared their perspectives on what they perceive as the greatest benefits of Villages for members, how Villages interface with health systems, what would motivate Villages to participate in research partnerships, and more.

Information from across the summits will be analyzed and presented in a forthcoming report. Insights will help to guide the design of future collaborative projects for Villages, researchers and other partners. Recordings of key parts of the summits also will be made available through the project website later this summer.  For more information, visit villagesresearch.org. To sign up for project updates, click here.

Since the California Summit, the discussion initiated by the eight Pasadena Village participants at various Pasadena Village gatherings has continued. And as Bill Kincaid, Board President of the Village to Village Network, noted, “There …[is]… a great deal of interest in the topics raised at the Summits.” 

Enough interest that Pasadena Village is drafting a letter to the Village to Village Network and fellow collaborators expressing our interest in future healthy aging research with Villages.  Included are suggestions for data collection and research topics.  Pasadena Village would like to know which other Villages look like us and why do people join their Villages. 

We would also like to know if participation in a Village :

•   Correlates with longevity and reduced hospital recidivism;

•   Combats isolation and ageism;

•   Reduces instances of fraud and abuse;

•   Promotes self sufficiency and independence; and

•   Gives members a sense of purpose.

 

Most Villagers believe it does, but more robust and comprehensive data would be helpful. 

The summits demonstrated an interest in participation by Villages in aging research, but the discussion is just beginning to get underway in earnest. What Village membership outcomes are the most important to you? Let us know, join the conversation.

Our participation in aging research shows how we as a Village are working to improve conditions for the aging population in our country.