Healthy Aging: Senior Program

healthyaging

Why is Healthy Aging Important:

With age comes a higher susceptibility to adverse health effects and disease, thus there is a high prevalence of chronic disease and injuries among the aging population. Among older adults, chronic diseases and falls are the leading causes of death and disability. The percentage of older adults in the population has increased with each decade. By 2050, it has been projected that there will be more than 1 million adults age 65 and older in Harris County; thus, opportunities to stay safe, healthy, and active are of the utmost importance.

Mission: The mission of the Harris County Healthy Aging Program is to reduce illness and injury in Harris County residents, age 60 and above, through the adaptation of a healthy and balanced lifestyle through disease self-management, fall prevention, social services case management and emotional and mental health support.

For more information, contact:

Healthy Aging Program Facilitator
Francisco Rodriguez

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 713.274.5750

The below services are all free.

Project Goals
  • Increase self-efficacy and confidence in program participants’ ability to adequately self-manage their chronic condition
  • Reduce falls and the fear of falling in program participants
  • Improve healthy and active living habits (i.e.  exercise, diet improvement) and decrease fall related injuries among program participant
  • Increase access to mental health and social service support for program participants 
  • Prevent overutilization of emergency room services or unplanned clinic visits due to poorly managed chronic diseases and falls among program participants
Our Program Venues
  • Community Centers
  • Senior living facilities
  • Public Libraries
  • Community Colleges
  • Community-based senior programs
  • Other public venue providing services to senior adults
Eligibility
  • Must be a resident of Harris County
  • Age 60 years of age and older or the caregiver of someone age 60 years of age or older


Program Components

Chronic Disease Self-Management
An evidence-based program developed at Stanford University, designed to build participants’ confidence in their ability to manage their chronic conditions and maintain active and fulfilling lives. There are three self-management workshops-Chronic Disease Self-Management, Diabetes Self-Management and Chronic Pain Self-Management. These workshops are once a week for six weeks, for two and a half hours. Venues include but are not limited to community centers, senior living facilities, libraries, community colleges and other organizations providing services to seniors.
Fall Prevention

Matter of Balance is our fall prevention workshop. This is an evidence-based program developed at Boston University, that is designed to reduce the fear of falling and increase the activity levels of older adults who have concerns about falling. The sessions are once a week for 8 weeks or twice a week for 4 weeks, and each session is 2 hours long.

Home Assessments and Modifications

The primary purpose of the home assessment is to identify fall risks inside and outside the home of seniors living independently in the community. Based on findings from the home assessments, participant-specific interventions (home modifications) will be made to reduce fall risks and allow the senior to age safely in place.

Mental Health and Social Services

This service is meant to identify and improve mental health and social service needs among seniors in Harris County, through emotional and mental support and/or nurturing case management.

Increase: positive outcomes for senior's wellbeing. Improve: identification of potential mental health/emotional challenges and access to social services for seniors in HC. Reduce: mental health/emotional challenges among the aging population through individualized and group support and community connections(CM).