Staying Healthy, Strong and Resilient
Objectives
To increase awareness of healthy aging lifestyle choices among older adults by:
- Sharing CDC’s six steps to Healthy Aging;
- Identifying strategies to develop resiliency and respond positively to challenges as we age.2. To create a forum to discuss health and social topics impacting older adults by:
- Creating safe spaces for discussions with people and experts who have similar experiences and knowledge.3. To connect participants with healthy aging resources and research information by:
- Providing a forum for community, scientists and health professionals to have bi-directional dialogues;
Disseminating resource information.
Target Audience
This event is inclusive; all individuals with an interest in healthy aging are welcome to attend. This includes older adults, caregivers, families, community members, leaders, service providers, scientists, and clinicians.
What to Expect
While this is a virtual event, it is a “hands-on,” interactive forum on healthy aging that includes fitness demonstrations, panel discussions, and breakout sessions highlighting health-related topics impacting all individuals experiencing aging.
Stay Tuned!
We will be posting more information about who will be joining us at the Sisters’ Circle, Man Cave and Club House in the next few weeks!
Find out more about CDC’s 6 tips for Healthy Aging here.
Part 1:
Mental Wellness, Mindfulness and Staying Safe in a Pandemic
Monday, November 14, 2022
Agenda
Join hosts Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos (Dr. G) and Ms. Crystal Evans as they host “fireside chats” about how to stay safe, healthy and well because the pandemic is not over.
- Dr. G will talk to Dr. Tamar Rodney and Ms. Clarrissa Taylor Jackson about mental wellness.
- Ms. Jennifer Ayana Harrison will guide us through a mindful moment segment, to ground us in gratitude.
- Dr. Thomas Laskow, Dr. Yvonne Commodore-Mensah, and Ms. Crystal Evans will share healthy aging tips for the young and the young at heart.
- Dr. Pamela Ouyang will introduce us to build strength and maintain balance thru Tai Chi.
- Dr. G will then answer questions about COVID-19, monkey pox, long COVID and what each of us can do to stay safe and healthy as the holiday season approaches.
- Ms. Cyd Lacanienta will then lead the discussion as the Community and Collaboration Core members (Ms. Cassie Lewis-Land, Mr. Roger Clark, Mr. Michael Thompson, Ms. Barbara Bates-Hopkins) share how our programs seek to build bridges and community trust in medicine, research and science.
- Dr. Cheryl Dennison Himmelfarb will close Day 1 by sharing about the extraordinary collaboration of research teams across the country under the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL) Against COVID-19 Disparities. We will learn about how our own CEAL DMV teams are working closely with the communities in DC, Maryland and Virginia hit hardest by COVID-19 and how you can join the Johns Hopkins HOPE community.
Part 2:
Staying Strong and Authentic
Tuesday, November 15, 2022
Hosted by Ms. Crystal Evans and Ms. Barbara Bates-Hopkins, this evening will harness the power of safe spaces to promote honest conversations between experts in life and experts in science.
- Ms. Crystal Evans will talk to Dr. Marilyn Albert and Ms. Jacquelyn Seth about Brain Health, Wellness, and Aging.
- Ms. Michele Blu, Owner of Michele Blu Yoga and Art Studio, will lead participants in a Yoga demonstration.
- You can choose to attend one of three breakout sessions where you will be joined by guests who are experts in topics that you have told us you want to know more about.
Historically, the Healthy Aging Forum has hosted two popular breakout sessions (Sisters’ Circle and Man Cave) where safe conversation spaces were nurtured for “real talks,” honest conversations exploring health and social topics important to our communities. Last year, we were honored to introduce the inaugural session called Club House, welcoming the LGBTQIA communities and non-binary individuals. Our goal is to celebrate staying strong, being authentic and inclusive as we age.
