Winner of 2012 American Society on Aging MetLife MindAlert Award

Fri, Mar 23 2012 08:53
 

WINNER OF A 2012 AMERICAN SOCIETY ON AGING/METLIFE FOUNDATION

 MINDALERT AWARD

MindAlert: Recognizing Innovations in Mental Fitness Programming for Older Adults

The American Society on Aging, in collaboration with MetLife Foundation, is pleased to announce that the Move with Balance™ program was selected as the winner of the 2012 MindAlert Award in the category for programs designed to enhance mental fitness for the general population of older adults.
The MindAlert Award is designed to recognize outstanding programs throughout the United States that have been developed to improve mental stimulation and creative outlets in later life. The award recognizes high-quality, innovative programs that enhance functioning and quality of life, or prevent functional decline, among older adults. Research has shown that cognitive decline is not an inevitable part of the aging process. New findings in brain health research offer a striking, newer model of aging as a time of brain health and growth in which elders may lead qualitatively better lives—lives filled with more knowledge, wisdom, and an increased capacity to contribute to society.

The Move with Balance™ program of Giving Back in Paia, Hawaii, is a unique, cutting-edge program that uses movement to help prevent falls and enhance cognitive function in older adults. Founded in 1994, the program has been developed over the past eighteen years, integrating research in vision training, kinesiology, and brain plasticity. The program carries out its mission of enhancing quality of life for older adults by pairing active elders with frail elders in loving intergenerational relationships. www.MoveWithBalance.org

The Move with Balance™ program will be honored at the National Forum on Brain Health, held on March 29, 2012, in Washington, D.C., during the Aging in America Conference.

Spokesperson Karen Peterson said, “On behalf of our nonprofit Giving Back, I am thrilled to receive this prestigious award for our Move With Balance program. I’d like to thank the Review Committee, MetLife, and the American Society on Aging for honoring us with the MindAlert Award 2012.”

“’The Review Committee found the Move with Balance™ model to be innovative, unique, and easily replicable, and we are extremely pleased to have an intergenerational program named the recipient of this year’s award,’ said MindAlert Review Committee Member Ruth Heller, Program Director at the University of Oregon’s Osher Lifelong Learning Center in Eugene, Oregon. Review Committee members noted that this is a program that truly engages older adults cognitively, physically, and socially.”

The mission of Giving Back is to enhance the lives of all older adults by pairing active seniors with frail elders in loving intergenerational relationships. We meet this challenge by offering learning opportunities that include integrated movements, vision training, confidence and balance exercise skills in our goal of preventing injuries from falls and enhancing cognitive skills for all seniors.

Our Intergenerational Programs

Giving Back is a Hawaii non-profit agency committed to fostering intergenerational relationships through mentoring, enhancing the individual lives of both the giver and receiver, while creating vibrant and vital opportunities for active elder volunteers (age 50+) to ‘give back’ to benefit their neighborhoods and communities.


In Hawaii

Interested in becoming a mentor in our local Hawaii Program? Information about our local programs along with trainings and class schedules can be found here. Stay up to date with local news and information by reading our news blog.

Click a Video Segment Below for More information on our Programs.

Your Community

Giving Back has created a course/training to bring the Giving Back® Mentoring Programs to Your Community. The 2-day, 16-hour course will cover the nuts and bolts of replicating our successful intergenerational mentoring program in your community.

Contact Karen Peterson for more information

Giving Back 4 minute Introduction Video

The Genius of Aging- 5 Minute Video