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Senior Health Matters
Currently,
13.5% of Missouri’s population is aged 65 and older. This will increase to 20%
by 2030. Not only will there be more seniors but they will be living longer.
Aging is an individual issue but it is also a community issue. Our aging
population will have a major impact on Missouri’s communities affecting health
and human services, transportation, housing, volunteer efforts, employment, and
the local economy. Communities need to plan if they are going to be prepared to
meet the needs of this growing population. And, policy makers at all levels
– local, state, and national need to make critical decisions that will
support caregivers and communities.
Senior Health Matters was written by the Missouri
Rural Health Association’s Senior Health Task Force. This task force was formed
as a result of a two-year grant project funded by the National Library of
Medicine. The grant was written by the Mid-Missouri Area Health Education
Center (Mid-MO AHEC) in collaboration with the Missouri Rural Health
Association (MRHA). While this report might be of interest to state policy
makers and mental health professionals, it was written with community leaders
and local mental health advocates in mind. Senior Health Matters consists of a
series of short fact sheets. The Welcome provides a summary of the paper.
Individuals can read all the fact sheets or only those of most interest. They
can also read them in any order.
Rural Mental Health Matters
Having
a mental illness can be tough no matter where you live but it can be worse for
those living in rural Missouri. The 1.5 million rural Missourians have the same
kinds of mental health disorders and needs for services as Missourians living
in urban centers. However, they are less likely to seek treatment or to have
access to needed services. As a result rural individuals with mental illness
enter care later in their illness, have more serious and disabling symptoms,
and require treatment that is more long-term and expensive.1
Rural Mental Health Matters was written by the
Rural Mental Health Task Force; one of three such work groups formed as a
result of a two-year grant project funded by National Library of Medicine. The grant
was written by the Mid-Missouri Area Health Education Center (Mid-MO AHEC) in
collaboration with the Missouri Rural Health Association (MRHA). While this
report might be of interest to state policy makers and mental health
professionals, it was written with community leaders and local mental health
advocates in mind. The briefing paper provides a quick overview of
the issue. Rural
Mental Health Matters consists of a series of short fact sheets.
Individuals can read all the fact sheets or only those of most interest. They
can also read them in any order.
Finding and Evaluating Health Information on the Internet - a
powerpoint presentation to help you evaluate the information you are finding.
PubMed® a service of the National Library of
Medicine, includes over 14 million citations for biomedical articles back to
the 1950's. These citations are from MEDLINE® and additional life science
journals.
MedlinePlus® -
MEDLINEplus will direct you to information to help answer health questions.
MEDLINEplus brings together, by health topic, authoritative information from
NLM, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), other government, non-profit and
other health-related organizations. It also provides you with a database of
full-text drug information and an illustrated medical encyclopedia.
MEDLINEplus® Espanol (Spanish)le
dirigirá a información que ayuda a responder preguntas de salud. Catalogada por
tema de salud, MEDLINEplus® reúne información oficial de NLM, Institutos
Nacionales de la Salud (NIH, por su sigla en inglés), y otras organizaciones de
gobierno y sin fines de lucro relacionadas con la salud. También le proporciona
una enciclopedia médica ilustrada y programas interactivos de instrucción de
salud.
Missouri Rural Health Association (MRHA) and Mid-MO
AHEC are collaborating on a two year National Library of Medicine grant funded
project that will bring together rural residents and social services/health
care professionals in a variety of ways.
Three white papers focusing on mental, dental and elder
health issues facing rural Missourians are being developed as a result of this
project. Each of these topics was identified as critical at regional MRHA
meetings held through out the state. Online communities are being used to bring
together experts to generate solutions for access to care and integration of
services problems by promoting cooperation among local and state health and
social service professionals. The white papers will be a starting point to
begin community dialog on the health issues impacting rural residents.
Oral Health White Paper
Mental Health White Paper
Elder Health White Paper
