The Center serves as a dynamic hub for all activities related to healthy aging at Colorado State University. Its comprehensive facilities include lecture rooms, faculty and graduate student offices, wet labs, exam and phlebotomy rooms, conference and event spaces, and biological specimen collection facilities. The core staff comprises an administrative assistant, operations manager, and communications and outreach coordinator.
Community Resources:
PAFC takes action through four priority groups: culture of aging, health and wellness, housing, and mobility and access. These priority groups communicate and collaborate across Larimer County using grassroots Self Directed Volunteer Teams (SDVT) to accomplish specific objectives.
Senior Access Points is a partnership between the Larimer County Office of Colorado State University Extension, CSU Department of Human Development and Family Studies, the Partnership for Age-Friendly Communities, and the Larimer County Office on Aging.
The Larimer County Office on Aging is the Area Agency on Aging (AAA) for Larimer County. As one of sixteen AAA’s in Colorado, the Office on Aging receives funding from the Federal Older Americans Act and the Older Coloradans Fund to provide services to Larimer County residents who are 60 and older, and to serve as the lead agency for planning and coordinating those services. The Office on Aging provides funding to agencies that provide services for seniors in Larimer County, including congregate meals, transportation, legal assistance, caregiver support and many more. These agencies are referred to as our funded community partners. In addition, the Office on Aging staff provides direct services and programs to older adults.
The Aging Clinic of the Rockies is a local non-profit mental health agency that offers professional counseling services to address psychological needs of older adults and their loved ones. The clinic is part of a network of mental health services in the Department of Psychology at Colorado State University.
CoCARE is a consortium of several universities in Colorado dedicated to aging-related research and education. Its primary goal is to organize workshops, webinars, and other events addressing critical issues in aging while showcasing collaborative projects within the state. Though CoCARE is not formally affiliated with any single university, nor is it a 501(c)(3) entity, it serves to amplify the impact of aging research and education across Colorado through its multi-university network.
Participation in CoCARE offers immediate benefits, including the opportunity to connect with others working in aging studies and education across Colorado. This fosters the formation of collaborative groups, facilitates job searches, and supports lobbying and legislative efforts for issues affecting older Coloradans. CoCARE aims to identify and enhance ongoing projects in the region, share resources, and expand the research portfolio on aging in Colorado.
Colorado presents a unique environment for advancing aging studies and education due to its motivated population, high education levels, and government interest in improving the well-being of its residents. By uniting universities, CoCARE strengthens their collective voice and enables them to achieve far more together than they could as isolated programs at individual institutions.
Student Resources:
The APA Committee on Aging’s newest resource, Exploring Careers in Aging is now live! It’s a step-by-step educational roadmap to help undergraduate and graduate students find a career in aging.
The Roadmaps – one for undergraduate and one for graduate students – provide guidance in thinking about potential research, practice and academic careers in aging including:
- Specific questions to consider at each educational level from pre-undergraduate to graduate.
- Actions to take at each educational level to be prepared and positioned to embark on a career in aging.
- Resources (directories of programs in psychology and gerontology, academic resources, preparing for graduate school, networking, and how to prepare for a job search).
- Career profiles and descriptions of a wide variety of aging careers, including those in psychology.
- Interdisciplinary careers that intersect with aging including those in engineering, business, law and policy, and biological and health sciences.
HES 455 Capstone Projects
In Spring 2024, CHA collaborated with Scott Burley, Ph.D. and students in HES 455: Health Promotion Programming on their capstone projects. These senior Health and Exercise Science students developed targeted health interventions aimed at raising awareness among college students about the impact of their current health behaviors on well-being in later life. Featured below are two of these projects:
Are you aging well?
This intervention aimed to increase accessibility and visibility to student health resources on campus by curating over 40 resources covering health and well-being. Browse the resources below.
by Julia Pinner, Tatum Flack, Allison Beecher, Sebastian Mahan, and Reed Jordan.
Dreaming Ahead
Informed by Associate Professor Josiane Broussard’s research on sleep and circadian rhythm, the Dreaming Ahead project describes how sleep habits affect Alzheimer’s disease risk, particularly for college-aged students. View the full flyer.
by Lily Hancock, Emma Van Auker, Griffin Vander Waerdt, Tanner Menu, and Eliseo Pereyra.
Articles, Blogs…
- Eye Care Guide for Older Adults
- Info about Aging in Place
- 20 Awesome At-Home Hobbies with Health Benefits for Retirees and Older Adults
- American Federation of Aging Research
- Longitudinal Surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 RNA Among Asymptomatic Staff in Five Colorado Skilled Nursing Facilities: Epidemiologic, Virologic and Sequence Analysis
- Expert Panel on COVID19 and Aging
- Hear Dr. Ehrhart speak about the Center and COVID-19 on the Wunderhealth Podcast
- OVPR’s Wellness Wednesday: No matter your age, it’s never too late to improve your fitness
- Safety for Aging Adults
- What Did You Do Today? Variability in Daily Activities is Related to Variability in Daily Cognitive Performance
- Can Intraindividual Variability in Cognitive Speed Be Reduced by Physical Exercise? Results From the LIFE Study
- Covariation of intraindividual variability in cognitive speed and cognitive performance across young, middle, and older adulthood
- The Impact of a Sustained Cognitive Engagement Intervention on Cognitive Variability: the Synapse Project
- B Sharp – The cognitive effects of a pilot community music program for people with dementia-related disorders
- The National Institute on Aging | A-Z guide to health
- The Healthspan Campaign | “Expert Q&A Series” covers advances in research and benefits of healthspan
- The Mayo Clinic | “Expert Blog” is an in-depth resource on healthy aging
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Alzheimer’s Disease and Healthy Aging Program
- The New York Times | “The New Old Age” column about aging
- Human Limits | Michael Joyner, M.D., an expert on human performance and exercise physiology, writes about aging and health
- Sene-Sense | Good takes on aging and research on aging by a scientist who has been there
- Medicare-Covered Treatments and Health Conditions
