The Florida Department of Elder Affairs (DoEA) is a State Department that oversees many aspects of the eldercare policies, systems, and operations for the State of Florida. DoEA oversees the more localized Area Agencies on Aging (AAA), which are private non-profit entities that carryout many of the operational aspects of Florida’s aging policies. 

SHINE (Serving Health Insurance Needs of Elders) is a free program offered by the Florida Department of Elder Affairs and your local Area Agency on Aging. Specially trained volunteers can assist you with your Medicare, Medicaid, and health insurance questions by providing one-on-one counseling and information. SHINE services are free, unbiased, and confidential.

DoEA also has an extensive Resource Directory which provides information on Assisted Living Facilities, Hurricane Support, Transportation needs, Hospice, and many other areas of interest to elders.

The Elder Helpline (1-800-96-ELDER)

 elderaffairs.org 

Positive Aging Community describes itself as “the leading resource for senior housing, aging in place, and professional resources.” While their primary focus is on the MidAtlantic region of the US, they publish articles of broader interest. The following information is taken from their website.

Guide to Retirement Living which is currently published as the Positive Living Sourcebook was founded by Steve Gurney in 1990 to provide individuals, families, and professionals with the most comprehensive listing of every retirement community, assisted living, nursing and rehab center and home care option in the DC, Northern Virginia and Suburban Maryland. The publication quickly expanded to two more regional editions covering the State of Maryland, and the Delaware Valley Region (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware).

Positive Aging SourceBook understands the complex and emotional aspects to decision-making that our reader goes through. That’s why every issue features dozens of articles written by foremost experts on aging issues and real-life stories detailing solutions that have worked for others. 

Reframing Aging’s mission is to help counter ageism. The following information is taken from their website: https://www.reframingaging.org/

The Reframing Aging Initiative is a long-term social change endeavor designed to improve the public’s understanding of what aging means and the many ways that older people contribute to our society. This greater understanding will counter ageism and guide our nation’s approach to ensuring supportive policies and programs for us all as we move through the life course.

The Reframing Aging Initiative started in 2012, when eight national aging organizations gathered to address the entrenched ageism in American society. With support from nine funders, the organizations collaborated with the social science research firm FrameWorks Institute to examine exactly what the American public thinks of aging. Research found that the public’s perception of aging is decidedly negative and antithetical to how most older people feel and what experts in the field know to be true. In this first phase of the project, the research was conducted and the communication strategies, resources, and tools developed and tested, making way for the next phase of the work beginning in April 2019. 

Since April 2019, the initiative has trained more than 100 facilitators locally on the research and fundamentals of reframing aging so they can play a key role in teaching others and changing the narrative. It also has promoted its efforts nationally, including successfully getting three major style guides used by thousands of scholars, researchers, communications professionals, journalists, students, and others to adopt bias-free language and incorporate the principles of reframing aging.

From 2018 to 2020, FSU’s Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy and the Claude Pepper Center sponsored “Aging Today”, a weekly, one-minute segment on WFSU’s 88.9, which answered questions relating to our aging society. Segments addressed questions especially relevant to our lives such as “How common is elder financial exploitation?” and “How can older adults avoid social isolation while practicing social distancing?” For an archive of episodes and more information, visit their website.



The mission of the Claude Pepper Center at Florida State University (FSU) is to use information and data from multiple sources to help inform policy makers, researchers, teachers, the media and the general public about the health, long term care and income security challenges confronting the nation’s older citizens.

The Center's namesake, Claude Pepper, served Florida in the U.S. House and Senate where he advanced several pieces of legislation helping elders including the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act in 1988, helping to abolished mandatory retirement in the federal government and ensuring continued health care coverage for older workers. He died in 1989 five days after receiving the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award.

According to their website, the mission of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College is to produce first-class research and educational tools and forge a strong link between the academic community and decision-makers in the public and private sectors around an issue of critical importance to the nation’s future. To achieve this mission, the Center conducts a wide variety of research projects, transmits new findings to a broad audience, trains new scholars, and broadens access to valuable data sources. Since its inception in 1998, the Center has established a reputation as an authoritative source of information on all major aspects of the retirement income debate.

Phone: (617) 552-1762

E-mail: crr@bc.edu

Website: https://crr.bc.edu