10th Annual Mid-American Institute on Aging and Wellness

MAIA 10th Anniversary Program & Swag Bag.

Every August, the University of Southern Indiana partners with the local Area Agency on Aging--SWIRCA--and others to present a two-day institute on aging and wellness.

As an employee of the university, I had the privilege of attending several sessions on Thursday, August 10th and Friday August 11th. I also received an invitation to attend the pre-conference workshop led by dementia educator Teepa Snow.  I discussed the events of Wednesday, August 9th in a previous post.

Below are highlights from a handful of sessions.

I'm loathe to admit that I could not attend every session.  There were 27 people leading concurrent sessions and four keynote speakers: Bill Thomas, MD, Faith Roberts, MSN, CRRN; Dean Hartley, PhD; and Neha Sangwan, MD.  There as also an exhibit hall featuring dozens of local business and agencies who support aging and wellness.

Such a wealth of experience and perspectives!

What follows are my notes that are woefully inadequate. I suggest that you attend next year so that you can follow the sessions that interest you the most.

Teepa Snow at MAIA 2017

Snow explaining unmet needs at MAIA 2017.

I spent the bulk of today attending a pre-conference workshop on dementia care.

For the past year, I have been teaching gerontology classes part time in the College of Nursing and Heath Professions at University of Southern Indiana in Evansville, Indiana.

Each August, the university hosts an aging conference sponsored by local agencies and businesses that support healthy aging.

Read more about the Mid-American Institute on Aging & Wellness (MAIA) here.

The two-day conference is packed with speakers covering an array of topics about healthy aging and elder care.

I'm a Seasoned "Bug" Hunter

Photo by KDA. Click to enlarge, if you dare!

There are advantages to being five plus decades old.

For example, when entering my office last Friday, I spied some kind of bug on the carpet.

Did I scream and jump on a chair? Did I yell for my husband to rescue me? Did I flee the room?

No.

Instead, I calmly gathered the appropriate supplies: a see-through deli container and a piece of card stock.

I moved so swiftly that it didn't evade my capture.

Being a life-long student, I sought to identity it before humanely releasing it into the yard.

Hmmm. I don't think that I will find the domesticis linteolum inlinere listed in any guide to insects and arachnids of southwestern Indiana.

Apparently, there are some disadvantages to aging as well.

My wisdom is waxing as my eyesight is waning.

Related:

The Senior Discount

Need Help with Your Bag?

Age and Political Affiliation

Image by Hillary.

With discussions of politics dominating news outlets and water cooler conversation, sometimes people bring up this question:

Does a person's age influence political affiliation?

Let's take the Baby Boomers as an example (those born 1946 to 1964).

As a group, do they affiliate more with liberal, conservative, or even moderate political ideals?

In January of 2015, the Gallup company posted an article showing how conservative political affiliation increases in age in the polling of these four voting-eligible generations: Millennials (28%), Generation X (35%), Baby Boomers (44%), and Traditionalists (48%).

Why?

First of all, several factors can influence trends in the political affiliation of an age group. Demographers consider many influences, for example the age effect or the period effect.

But before we look at those demographers' theories, let's look at more poll / survey data: