Seeing Seniors: Shaping The Future of Aging in NH

Seeing Seniors: Shaping The Future of Aging in NH will open a statewide community-based discussion about what older citizens need to optimize their quality of life--- at whatever stage they're in. Through a series of six feature stories on NH Outlook and four community forums, seniors, caregivers, families, policymakers, and the extended communities that bear responsibility for their well-being, are invited to participate in this collaborative outreach project of New Hampshire Public TV (NHPTV) and Seniors Count (an initiative of Easter Seals NH). New Hampshire ServiceLink Network joins this effort by hosting the community forums and providing resource and referral services.

Seeing Seniors: Shaping The Future of Aging in NH is a community outreach project which focuses on our senior population to achieve the following goals:

• educate the New Hampshire public about the needs of our senior citizens
• give seniors and caregivers information and access to resources that can help them
• open a discussion about how communities will need to change as our population ages
• begin building the public will to make these changes happen.

NHPTV will act as convener for this community outreach campaign, using its broadcast capacity to bring awareness and information to tens of thousands of New Hampshire households. Seniors Count will leverage experience and collaborations developed from their work in Manchester to begin building a statewide movement to “change the face of aging” in New Hampshire.

Objectives for this community outreach project are:

• To mount a statewide public awareness campaign, directed both to citizens and to policy makers, to begin the conversation about what New Hampshire communities will need to do to care for our growing population of seniors.
• To connect people to resources and services at partner organizations.
• To give elders and their loved ones information they can use to improve quality of life now and in the future.
• To fortify NHPTV’s connections with other community service agencies.
• To build a more personal connection with our NHPTV viewers by soliciting feed-back about senior issues through our web site and Viewer Services phone number.
• To enhance community awareness and appreciation of NHPTV’s outreach work.

As a statewide media source, New Hampshire PBS has the power to bring unprecedented attention to the plight of our seniors. Seniors Count will bring the attention into focus, form collaborations, and build community commitment to improving the quality of life for our elderly.

NHPTV is one of 10 public television stations to be awarded a grant from Sound Partners for Community Health, a program of the Benton Foundation that is funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and is dedicated to improving health and health care for all Americans. Additional funding for Seeing Seniors: Shaping The Future of Aging in NH has been provided by the Doris L. Benz Trust and the Endowment for Health.

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