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The Pennsylvania Council on Aging recently released an interactive guide with information and resources to help older adults cultivate a healthy mind, body, and spirit amidst the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The guide, titled SOLO: Strengthening Older Lives Online, was produced by PCoA’s Risk Reduction Committee, which is made up of older adults and was formed in response to the council’s State of Older Adults Report in May.
The interactive health and wellness guide is available in English at my.visme.co/view/4d8vmyqz-solo and in Spanish at my.visme.co/view/mxr0069j-solo-espanol.
The committee is an extension of the Social Isolation Task Force, formed in 2019 to help mitigate social isolation among seniors.
“Social isolation is a problem that we already knew existed among seniors and became more of an urgent concern during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Social Isolation Task Force Chair Janice Cameron.
“The challenges we’ve faced also gave us an opportunity to focus on social isolation and what aging Pennsylvanians are experiencing and develop real ways to help combat it. The SOLO guide is a user-friendly, self-empowering tool for older adults to be shared among their peers as a means of preventing social isolation.”
The SOLO guide is designed to go beyond some of the physical safety reminders during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using bold, color graphics, the guide incorporates ways for aging adults to combat some of the pervasive stressors exacerbated by the pandemic while helping them live their best lives.
Tools available in the guide include:
• Activities and videos to help stay mentally, spiritually, and physically fit
• Resources available to assist with those three areas
• Short questionnaires to build active health plans
Members of the Risk Reduction Committee have developed a training module that accompanies the guide in order to introduce it into communities of seniors in peer-led ways.
The committee hopes it will help reduce instances of social isolation by informing older adults about some habits they can practice to prevent it in their lives.
Learn more about the various programs offered by the Pennsylvania Department of Aging at aging.pa.gov or by calling (717) 783-1550.