Nurturing Our Retired Citizens		Replication Guide

Educational Forums

Mission

Educate seniors, their families, and their caregivers about issues that help seniors maintain their independence.  

Program Description  

Forums were presented to seniors and their caregivers on a wide range of options relating to a particular topic. This helped seniors make better-informed choices. Each lecture was videotaped for cable TV and for our lending library. Topics included transportation, housing and care giving.

Community Goals Met  

• Identify seniors who are isolated and engage them in community activities.
• Empower older adults to participate in the community.
• Educate residents and service providers about existing resources.
• Initiate an outreach program to connect seniors and their families to the available services in the community.
• Provide options for health promotion, exercise, volunteering and other vital aging activities.
• Develop a collaborative mechanism to identify gaps, coordinate programs and avoid duplication.

Project Leadership  

• NORC Program Coordinator secured speakers and venue
• NORC Administrative Assistant confirmed speakers and venue
• Community leaders were the speakers
• NORC Steering Committee/Senior Consumer Advisory Committee chose the topics to be presented.
• The director of community cable TV filmed, edited, and placed the lectures on the local station as an in-kind service of the City. 

Impact  

• Seniors in the community and their caregivers
• People who attend the forum (25-80 people in attendance)
• People who saw the program on the Cable TV show (According to our survey this is 1600 people see each forum that is video taped.)
• People who told their friends and family about the resources.

Planning Timeline

Before the event

• Plan the events six months in advance
• Choose the venue, time, length of time and food
• Confirm with the cable TV director
• Begin work on PR materials
• Recruit the speakers to participate in the program
• Three months in advance, contact the speakers
• Six weeks in advance mail the invitations
• One month in advance, confirm with the speakers when they are presenting
• One month in advance, order any food that will be necessary.
• One month in advance, advertise in the Care Options Network
• One month in advance, put posters up to recruit people to attend.
• Two weeks in advance, send to local community newspaper and public newspaper for inclusion to the calendar of events.

Day of the Event

Materials needed:

• Handouts
• Flip charts/white boards
• Electronic equipment
• Name tags
• Evaluations
• Food

After the event

• Within one week send a thank you letter to all speakers and the host venue location
• Get video copy from cable TV person
• Make copies for the lending library
• Deliver copies to lending library locations.

Process and Outcomes  

The NORC Senior Consumer Advisory Committee and Steering Committee chose the topics that would be covered in these forums. See attached bibliography of DVDs available in the NORC lending library. The NORC staff planned and implemented the forums.

The PR flyers and announcements were produced by the host venue of the forum or by an institutional partner involved in the program. Each partner mailed flyers to their own database of seniors and caregivers. The NORC staff was responsible for the PR in the newspapers and other online publications.

In order to increase access to these forums, they were held at various venues in the community, senior housing units, city hall, community centers. We learned that some complex topics required the forum to be presented in a three part series.

Budget

Summary

These educational forums were designed to educate the general public about resources that could help seniors maintain their independence. By presenting multiple resource options, seniors were better able to determine the best alternative for them. The focus has been on planning and use of local community resources. The NORC lending library created videos and DVDs that seniors or their caregivers could borrow to discuss options with their loved ones.

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