Working in partnership with 10 organizations, Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE) inaugurated the nation’s first National Resource Center on LGBT Aging, a technical assistance resource center dedicated to improving the quality of services and supports for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) older adults nationwide.
Curricula and Training
PHI was invited to become a partner in this ground-breaking initiative because of its expertise in curricula development and person-centered care training.
PHI will collaborate with SAGE and the other project partners to develop the Resource Center’s training curricula for both aging network providers and LGBT service providers.
PHI staff will also conduct train-the-trainer sessions with the Center’s core training partners and pilot testing to evaluate the effectiveness of the training curricula.
Serving the LGBT Elder Community
“Like most older adults, LGBT elders need services and supports to help them age successfully, but too often they don’t seek them from the aging service network due to fear of discrimination,” said PHI Organizational Culture Change Specialist Kate Waldo, who is working with the Resource Center and coordinating the project partners. “Yet, organizations that traditionally serve the LGBT community are often not ‘age-friendly,’ lacking the knowledge and skills necessary to serve elders.”
“PHI is addressing these profound gaps by developing curricula and providing person-directed care training that honor the whole person and celebrate diversity,” Waldo continued.
“It is critical that the aging network acknowledges that LGBT consumers are accessing their services. If it doesn’t, you are in effect making the LGBT community an invisible population that feels they have to hide an important aspect of their self-identity in order to feel safe — or go without needed services altogether,” Waldo said.
‘An Enormous Step Forward’
A key component of the new Center is its website that over time will provide LGBT elders and their loved ones with information on legal issues, caregiving, lifelong planning and housing, and other concerns.
“The launch of our National Resource Center on LGBT Aging is an enormous step forward for our aging lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities,” said Michael Adams, executive director at SAGE. “It speaks to the necessary attention that service providers of all types must place on supporting diverse older adults around the country.”
SAGE, the world’s largest and oldest organization dedicated to improving the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) older adults, launched the new Center in mid-October with a three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration on Aging.
More information about the Resource Center and suggestions for further reading are available at PHI’s Training and Organizational Development Services blog.
– by Deane Beebe
