2019 December Newsletter
National Home Safety and Home Modification Work Group Contributes to US Senate Aging Committee Falls Prevention Report
In October, 2019, the Senate Special Committee on Aging held the hearing, “Falls Prevention: National, State, and Local Level Solutions to Better Support Seniors,” which focused on the health and economic consequences of falls and explored strategies to reduce falls-related injuries.
The USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology Fall Prevention Center of Excellence facilitates the National Home Safety and Home Modification Work Group with the National Council on Aging . The Group shared expert comments that informed the hearing along with approximately 200 respondents. Home modification was featured as a key component to falls prevention in the hearing and report, found here.
RESEARCH
Home Modification Environmental Scan
As part of our Promoting Aging in Place by Enhancing Access to Home Modification project, funded by the Administration for Community Living (ACL), USC is developing an unprecedented inventory of home modification services that will inform and improve home modification activities, particularly those of the aging network. Findings will be released in a 2020 Home Modification Toolkit: Lessons from the Field, outlining the current landscape of local, state, and national home modification services and resources with recommendations to address service, access, and funding gaps. Additionally, findings will be shared via our online Home Modification Information Network, including home modification funding sources and providers searchable by city and state, to be released in 2020!
Best Practices Framework
Home modification programs, services, and efforts vary across agencies and communities. We are engaging an expert panel of researchers and practitioners to develop a formal framework to identify home modification best practice principles for replication. These principles will help us to identify and compile what works and share this with professionals, providers, researchers, and policy makers so they can be evaluated, replicated, and brought to scale. We look forward to sharing updates on this effort in 2020.
INFORMATION DISSEMINATION
Looking for Home Modification Resources for Consumers?
Check out our inventory of home modification consumer resources for special populations, including older veterans, Native American elders, caregivers, and limited or non-English speakers.
TRAINING and TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
Next Executive Certificate in Home Modification Series starts March 2020
This program provides nearly four months of online interaction with peers and experts in the field and is offered quarterly. The Certificate series of five courses is dedicated to ensuring that graduates have the necessary skills to assist others with maximizing their home environment. The Program fills up quickly so check it out! If you have any questions, email Julie Overton at overton@usc.edu.
Click here to learn more about our training and technical assistance activities.
For more information about any of these activities or to unsubscribe to this periodic e-newsletter, please email homemods@usc.edu
This project was supported, in part, by grant number HHS-2018-ACL-AOA-HMOD-0308 from the U.S. Administration for Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C. 20201. Grantees undertaking projects with government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Points of view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official ACL policy.
