The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recognizes Older Americans Month to empower older adults (ages 65 and older) to age without injury while still enjoying the hobbies and activities they love.  Still Going Strong is a national campaign from CDC raising awareness about common yet preventable injuries as we age. The campaign provides simple steps older adults and caregivers can do to improve social connectedness and prevent common injuries. 

This year’s theme, Powered by Connection, organized by the Administration for Community Living, emphasizes the profound impact that meaningful relationships and social connections have on our health and well-being.  According to CDC, maintaining strong social connections with family and friends plays a vital role in supporting independence and overall aging. Research shows that social connectedness can lead to longer life, better health, and improved well-being.

The Still Going Strong campaign equips older adults with tools to reduce social isolation and loneliness.  It also helps them to avoid the leading causes of unintentional injuries among older adults such as falls, motor vehicle crashes, and traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). Older adults experiencing social isolation and loneliness have an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, dementia, and suicidal ideation.  There are steps older adults and their caregivers can take to improve social connectedness that helps to maintain their quality of life and stay independent longer. During interviews, a wellness expert and/or a CDC official would discus

 Dr. Gwen Bergen serves as the team lead for the Safety Promotion Team in the Applied Sciences Branch of the Division of Injury Prevention at CDC’s Injury Center. The Safety Promotion Team’s primary focuses are the prevention of drownings and older adult falls. Prior to becoming team lead, she was a behavioral scientist on the team working on older adult fall prevention for seven years. Her emphasis was on implementing and evaluating clinical fall prevention strategies and understanding older adult injury prevention attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors and designing evidence-based tools to encourage them to adopt behaviors to reduce their injury risk.

Her previous CDC experience includes five years on the Transportation Safety Team with a focus on alcohol-impaired driving, older adult mobility, and data linkage, and two years as a fellow at the National Center for Health Statistics working on injury data. She received her Master of Public Health degree from the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health and her doctoral degree, both in social and behavioral science with an emphasis in injury prevention, from Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Dr. Bergen joins Mark Alyn on this edition of Late ight Health.

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