Everyone living in the Circumpolar North should have the opportunity to live a long
and healthy life. However, we live in an environment that can be challenging as we
get older. The physical environment may be difficult to navigate (extreme weather,
changing climate, high costs of living, etc) but it is important to remember that
the social environment also changes for us as we age. As more adults are choosing
to age-in-place and retire at home here in Alaska, we are noticing real gaps in our
knowledge about what healthy aging means to our elders and how we can achieve it in
our Arctic environment.
The Healthy Aging Lab at UAA works to understand the shifting sociocultural landscape
for aging adults and identify service needs to facilitate healthy aging-in-place.
We do this in a variety of ways, from Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR)
projects, to community-engaged courses in health sciences, to individual service-learning
projects—our work aims to benefit not only the student (and future geriatric workforce),
but the senior community as well.
Alaska is tied for the highest number of female veterans in the United States, but many of them do not use services through the VA in Alaska. Alaska’s News Source spoke to UAA Assistant Professor and veteran, Vanessa Meade, about potential obstacles related to the issue.
UAA’s College of Health participated in Juneteenth and Pride events this June. Hundreds of families and friends gathered to enjoy live music and explore booths from local businesses and artists. Rose Shoulders is the Student Recruitment Specialist for the College of Health. “It was great to see the community, to see that collaboration, to see everybody finding their families within each other at these events-that's what it is about.”
"For all those deciding what to do following high school, I encourage you to find your passion, that spark that brings you joy and motivation. If you don’t quite know what you want to do with your life, that is okay. When you find the path that motivates you, take each small step one by one, but don’t stop growing," said MSW student Guy Harris.
How do you follow up a landmark policing career that not only culminated in becoming chief of police, but also occurred during a watershed period of accountability in law enforcement across the country? For justice alumnus Kenneth McCoy, you become the very first chief diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) officer for Alaska’s largest employer.
The UAA Healthy Aging Research Laboratory is partially supported by an Institutional
Development Award (IDeA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of
the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under grant number 2P20GM103395. The content
is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the official
views of Alaska INBRE.