The concept of an Age-Friendly Ecosystem builds on the original concept of Age-Friendly Cities first introduced by the World Health Organization. Age-Friendly Cities strive to reconfigure environments, policies, products and services to enhance residents’ capacity for independence across the lifespan. Over the past two decades, age-friendly initiatives have expanded to include businesses, communities, employers, health systems, public health and universities. This new expanded concept is known as an Age-Friendly Ecosystem. However, most initiatives operate in a geographical silo rather than being integrated across a larger region.
The Center for Aging, Health and Humanities (CAHH) has emerged as a leader in the field by bringing together multi-sector partners from the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region, both within and outside of the field of aging, and creating opportunities for these partners to collaborate and create livable communities for people of all ages. In spring 2021, the CAHH, in partnership with Age-Friendly Alexandria, Arlington, DC, Hyattsville, Montgomery County and Georgetown University’s Aging & Health Program, hosted the inaugural Age-Friendly Ecosystem Summit to do just this.
A GW University Seminar Series award funded the two-day event and brought together age-friendly leaders and community participants to share best practices, frameworks and resources to advance the region’s Age-Friendly Ecosystem. Local municipality leaders also joined to share exemplary case studies of successful age-friendly initiatives. Fourteen educational podcasts were produced for the event and continuing education fees went towards the Gene Cohen Research Award to support student research. The second annual Age-Friendly Ecosystem Summit was held virtually on Nov. 9, 2022. This regional, collaborative event convened local leaders and multi-sector parties who are interested in advancing age-friendly initiatives, focusing on the domains of transportation, housing, long-term care workforce and health systems, and emergency preparedness and resilience.
2021-2022 Speakers
Melissa Batchelor
Director of the Center for Aging, Health, and Humanities
GW School of Nursing faculty
Andy Siegel
Chief Business Development Officer, Goodwin Living
CAHH Associate Director for Community Engagement
GWCAHH Goodwin Living Resident
Maleeha Ruhi
Diversity & Cultural Awareness in Aging, Director
Inpatient Geriatrics and Palliative Consult Service VA Medical Center
Alan Wasserman, MD, MACP
Eugene Meyer Professor of Medicine
Stephen Gordon
Founder and CEO of Edenbridge Heath
Alan Abrams
Chief Medical Officer
Perfect Health, Inc.
Gail Kohn
Age Friendly Washington DC
Pazit Aviv
Village Coordinator
Montgomery County Villages
Kimberly Callinan
President and CEO
Compassion and Choices.
Tom Koutsoumpas
CEO of Capital Caring Health
Co-Founder/former CEO National Partnership for Hospice Innovation
Jackie Ogg
Palliative Care Social Worker
Kumar Dixit
Chaplain from Montgomery Hospice