Texas A&M School of Public Health Marcia G. Ory, PhD, MPH, Founding Director Matthew Lee Smith, PhD, MPH, Co-Director
Welcome from Our Center Co-Directors We are pleased to share our Center activities and accomplishments with you. We address the challenges and opportunities of a rapidly aging world by serving as a centralized hub for population health and aging. While formally recognized as a Texas A&M Board of Regents Center in 2016, we have been engaged in a variety of aging-related research, education, and practice projects for more than a decade under our predecessor Program on Healthy Aging. Center status has brought increased visibility and partnerships. We now have affiliates from more than 15 colleges, institutes and agencies within the Texas A&M system and collaborating partners from community, clinical and corporate settings. Consistent with our mission, we take a life-course approach to improve the lives of Texans and others throughout the nation and world. We strongly believe that being Active for Life® is possible and involves every one, at every age, every day. Changing prior stereotypes of aging requires a paradigm shift where healthy aging is seen as the ‘new normal’. Center activities focus on social, behavioral, economic, environmental, and technological innovations to positively impact aging individuals, their families, health care professionals and service providers, and communities. Our research, education, and practice activities are highly intertwined with a goal of translating research to practice as well as providing training for the next generation of scholars and practitioners. With over $50,000,000 in research expenditures, we have engaged in over 50 projects since 2001. For example, our local, state and national evaluations of evidence-based programs have documented that chronic disease self-management programs, fall prevention programs, and physical activity programs can improve the triple aims of better health, better health care, and better value. We have demonstrated how programs are not monolithic—but uniquely impact different populations and settings. Pushing our academic boundaries, we have learned that to achieve long lasting population health and aging gains, programs must be embedded within existing delivery structures to maximize scalability and sustainability. We have also explored how policies and environmental strategies can facilitate or impede engagement in healthy lifestyle behaviors. To further our dissemination of evidence-based programming, we have created the Texas Active for Life Coalition, a statewide network to expand evidencebased programming, influence policy change, and unify partners and efforts across the state. We invite you to join us on this journey to make “healthy aging the new normal.”
- Dr. Marcia Ory & Dr. Matthew Lee Smith
Vision To be a recognized Center of Excellence for promoting
population health and successful aging throughout the life-course that will improve the lives of Texans and others throughout the nation and world.
Mission To promote population health and successful aging through innovations in
research, education and practice that examine clinical social, behavioral, economic, environmental, and technological solutions linking academic and real-world health care and community settings.
Demographic Imperative
Rapid aging of the American population
Leads to challenges in care needs & burdens
Opportunities for Action Postpone or manage age-related chronic conditions
Ease burdens of care
Provide age-friendly environments to extend health and wellbeing
Focal Areas for Research, Education and Practice
Technical assistance
Community & worksite wellness
Healthy communities
Mobile health technologies
Geriatric care
Economics & policy
Demonstrated Impacts of Evidence-Based Better Health
Improving access to healthy foods Improving access to safe and convenient places for physical activity Reduced numbers of unhealthy days and less depression Improved overall quality of life
Better Health Care
More activated patients Better doctor-patient communication Less medication non-compliance
Better Value
Potential health care savings of $364/person enrolled in program >$3.3 billion if reaching 5% of all adults with at least one chronic illness
Highlights Serving as a Model to the Nation Center faculty are recognized for their lifelong achievements in aging research, education, and practice; mentorship to others; and sustained contributions to advancing the public health and aging field. The Active for Life® program of the Center for Population Health and Aging was an inaugural recipient of the 2019 Redefining American Healthcare award by the Healthcare Leadership Council (HLC). To be eligible for this national award, programs must optimize care for high-need patients and demonstrate cost-effectiveness, evidence-based research, measurable results, and replicability. The Center is gaining further national recognition after convening two very successful Annual Active for Life® Health and Wellness Conferences, which help stress the importance of campus, community, clinical, and corporate collaborations.
Promoting Work Place Wellness Initiatives Under Center leadership, we helped the Texas A&M School of Public Health (SPH) be the first School of Public Health in Texas to achieve CEO Cancer Gold Standard Accreditation. To earn Gold Standard accreditation, an organization must establish programs to reduce cancer risk by eliminating tobacco use; encouraging physical activity; promoting healthy diet and nutrition; detecting cancer at its earliest stages; and providing access to quality care. In an effort to help organizations seek accreditation and reduce the risk of cancer for their employees and families, the Texas A&M SPH and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service produced the Going for the Gold: Achieving CEO Cancer Gold Standard™ Accreditation Guidebook. We continue to promote the SPH Health and Wellness Committee to emphasize, encourage, and engage the SPH community to make healthy choices through individual and organizational change. Additionally, we are adapting and further testing Live Healthy, Work Healthy, a chronic disease self-management program delivered to employees in workplace settings.
Disseminating Mobile Health Technology for Better Connections Patient and provider access to, and awareness of, community resources for Americans suffering from chronic conditions can improve population health. After polling providers across the U.S., we found that many still rely on paper-based materials to locate health resources. Mobile health technology provide an efficient mechanism to more holistically address the health needs of entire populations. MyHealthFinder (https://sph-healthynow.tamhsc.edu/) is a mobile web resource locator designed to help individuals, families, caregivers, and healthcare professionals locate resources for healthy living and chronic disease management. This unique tool’s map allows users to search by location or by categories such as aging and disability services, community services, faith-based services, food and nutrition, health and wellness, opioid and substance abuse resources, and more.
Expanding Center Research & Practice Housed within the Center, the Texas Active for Life® Coalition (TALC) is a statewide coalition with an overarching mission to keep Texans “Active for Life.” This is primarily accomplished by providing evidence-based programs for older adults. TALC is committed to expanding and promoting evidence-based programming, influencing policy change, and unifying partners and efforts across the state. In an effort to make our vision a reality, the TALC focuses its efforts on the following: (1) increasing awareness about health issues impacting older Texans and prevention/management strategies; (2) increasing provider participation in prevention/management practices; (3) increasing funding opportunities and investments for prevention/management; (4) enhance data surveillance collection, analysis, and system linkages; (5) increase availability and accessibility of community programs and services.
Ongoing Projects Infrastructure Building and Training “Meeting the needs and preferences of older Americans requires infrastructure resources and commitment to conduct translational research, provide education and training, and to deliver age-appropriate and culturally relevant services.”
Community Research Center for Senior Health
Dementia Connections: Expansion of Dementia Specific Case Management
Evidence-Based Fall Prevention and Disease Self-Management Programs
Falls Infrastructure Expansion and Integration Enhancement
Geriatric Care & Education
Healthy South Texas
Rural Moonshot Program
Self-Management Programs Using Evidence-Based Designs
Texas A&M Triads for Transformation Opioid Epidemic’s Impact
Behaviorally-based Evidence-based Lifestyle Programs “Our center seeks to create a knowledge base for the demands associated with chronic diseases and the benefits of a healthier lifestyle to help older persons learn to take responsibility for day-to-day health management.”
Brief Intervention to Evidence-Based Programs to Combat Malnutrition
Evidence-Based Programs and Healthcare Utilization in Florida
No Falls Partnership
Putting CDSMP to Work: Implementation of the Live Healthy, Work Healthy Program
Supporting, Unifying and Streamlining in Texas through Active Integrated Networks
Ongoing Projects Policy and Environmental Assessments and Interventions “The physical environment is increasingly recognized as a major social determinant of health and functioning. Expanding evidencebased programs (EBP) for older adults means a commitment to influencing policy change and unifying partners and efforts across the state.”
Dementia-Friendly Communities to Promote Active Living
Development of a National Brief Screener to Assess Risk for Social Isolation
Fighting Obesity by Reinventing Public Transportation
Health Service Utilization among Men with Chronic Conditions
Physical Activity Impacts of a Planned Activity-Friendly Community
Promoting Physical Activity through Tactical Urbanism
Technology Interventions
“Technology can help older adults maintain independence and reduce burdens of care. But it is important to test the acceptability and usability among older adults. “
Assessment of the Utility of Dementia Patient Monitoring Technology
GamePlan4 Care: Web-based Delivery System for REACH II
Improved Dementia Assessment Using Sensor Systems
Contact Information Texas A&M School of Public Health
Twitter @TAMU_CPHA
Marcia Ory
Facebook facebook.com/TAMUCPHA/
212 Adriance Lab Rd. College Station, TX 77843 979.436.9368 mory@tamu.edu
Matthew Smith
979.436.9518 matthew.smith@tamu.edu
Web cpha.tamu.edu Email healthyaging@tamu.edu