NNLM Network of the National Library of Medicine

Library Programming

Healthy aging involves good nutrition and regular exercise for energy, balance, and strength. It also includes regular wellness checks.  The Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) offers recommended program ideas and resources for exercise, nutrition, and prevention for healthy aging. You may also explore ALA's evidence-based Programming Librarian and Keys to Engaging Older Adults @ Your Library for more health and wellness ideas.

Exercise

Let's Move In Libraries is a partnership between the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and public libraries. Use the NIA Exercise and Physical Activity website to incorporate walking, yoga, or gardening into your library programming. You also can order or download free posters to complement your program.

Nutrition

The USDA ChooseMyPlate.gov illustrates the five food groups that are the building blocks for a healthy diet. Share 10 Tips: Choosing Healthy Meals As You Get Older to promote nutrition for healthy aging. Then use the NNLM All of Us National Health Observances Toolkit: March - Nutrition Month to incorporate programming ideas such as a healthy recipe exchange or a speaker program for eating well if you are diabetic.

Medicare

Medicare.gov is the official U.S. Government site for Medicare. Know what preventive services are available through Medicare with Your Guide to Medicare Preventive Services. You also can find a Glossary that explains terms in the Medicare program and forms, help, and resources. Order the official government booklet, Medicare & You, 2019, for a summary of Medicare benefits, coverage options, rights and protections, and answers to the most frequently asked questions about Medicare.

Then help your patrons prepare for their next health care appointment. Order NIA free Talking with Your Doctor booklets or share the AHRQ Question Builder: Be Prepared for Your Next Health Appointment. There's even an app. Download the AHRQ Question Builder from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.

Immunizations and Vaccinations

As we get older, our immune systems tend to weaken, putting us at higher risk for certain diseases. This is why, in addition to seasonal flu (influenza) vaccine and Td or Tdap vaccine (tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis), discuss with one's health provider:

• The shingles vaccine, which protects against shingles and the complications from the disease (recommended for healthy adults 50 years and older)
• Pneumococcal vaccines, which protect against pneumococcal disease, including infections in the lungs and bloodstream (recommended for all adults over 65 years old, and for adults younger than 65 years who have certain chronic health conditions)

Share the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Recommended Adult Immunization Schedule for ages 19 years or older, the United States, 2019 or the CDC Vaccines Schedules app available for download on iOS and Android devices.

AgeWise

Engage your community with AgeWise, a PBS series. Episodes such as Aging in Place can help inform people how to stay safe longer in their homes and communities. Also, knowing how to prepare for an emergency as an older adult, or at any age, is important for living longer and better.

Library Skills Training

The Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) provides in-person and online instruction. Webinars often are recorded for future viewing. Check the NNLM Training page for a complete list of programs,  schedules, and recordings.

• Healthy Aging at Your Library: Connecting Older Adults to Health Information

There's an NIH for that...

The primary NIH organization for research on Older Adults is the National Institute on Aging (NIA). They publish easy-to-read information on health topics online and in print. 

Book

Noted Harvard-trained geriatrician uses stories from her quarter-century of caring for patients and draws from history, science, literature, popular culture, and her own life to weave a vision of old age that’s neither nightmare nor utopian fantasy - a vision full of joy, wonder, frustration, outrage, and hope about aging, medicine, and humanity itself. 

Elderhood is for anyone who is, in the author's own words, "an aging, i.e., still-breathing human being."

Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life | Louise Aronson | Bloomsbury | 2019 | 464 pages | ISBN: 978-1620405468 | WorldCat

Review

Aging as the Next Social Revolution by Andrea A Firth. Oakland Magazine, June 13, 2019

Author

Louise Aronson, MD MFA, author of the story collection A History of the Present Illness, is a geriatrician, educator, and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where she directs UCSF Health Humanities. A graduate of Harvard Medical School and the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College, Dr. Aronson has received the Gold Professorship in Humanism in Medicine, the California Homecare Physician of the Year award, and the American Geriatrics Society Clinician-Teacher of the Year award. Her articles and stories have appeared in publications including The New York Times, New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, and Bellevue Literary Review and have earned her a MacDowell fellowship, the Sonora Review Prize, and four Pushcart nominations. She lives in San Francisco.

Official Website of Louise Aronson

Interview

Book

Delightful and moving, Groen’s novel shares a full year of the eponymous octogenarian’s journal entries, detailing his day-to-day observations, humorous inner monologues, and overall zest for life within a nursing home in Amsterdam. Bored with the daily monotony of life at the center, he decides to keep a journal for a complete year to expose the frustrations, gripes, and groans of his fellow “inmates” and the realities of growing old. Between hilarious quips about life, Hendrik regales readers with the joys of the motor scooter and his decision to relent and wear adult diapers. Hendrik’s good friend Evert—a crotchety old fellow who gets his kicks riling up the other residents—helps stave off the loneliness, but it’s when new resident Eefje arrives that Hendrik feels a spark he hasn’t experienced in a long time. Hendrik, Eefje, and Evert, along with a small group of wily seniors, decide to have a little fun while they still can by organizing the Old-But-Not-Dead Club to plan outings and excursions, including tai chi and cooking classes, and visits to the casino and museums. Engaging and hilarious, Hendrik’s diary gives dignity and respect to the elderly often overlooked in popular culture, providing readers a look into the importance of friendship and the realities of the senior care system in modern society. 

The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen has been translated into over twenty languages.​

The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 1/4 Years Old | Hendrik Groen | Grand Central Publishing | 2018 reprint | 384 pages | ISBN: 978-1455542154

Review

Likely Stories: The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 1/4 Years Old by Hendrick Groen by Jim McKeown, KWBU, April 4, 2019

Author

Hendrik Groen started his pseudonymous diary on the literary website of Torpedo magazine. He says about his first novel: “There’s not one sentence that’s a lie, but not every word is true.” In the media, there has been a lot of speculation about who Hendrik Groen could be. Is he an actual octogenarian? Is he a famous Dutch writer? A well-known Dutch stand-up comedian? He remains a mystery.

Book

Mary Pipher offers a timely examination of the cultural and developmental issues women face as they age. Drawing on her own experience as daughter, sister, mother, grandmother, caregiver, clinical psychologist, and cultural anthropologist, she explores ways women can cultivate resilient responses to the challenges they face. “If we can keep our wits about us, think clearly, and manage our emotions skillfully,” Pipher writes, “we will experience a joyous time of our lives. If we have planned carefully and packed properly, if we have good maps and guides, the journey can be transcendent.” 

New York Times Bestseller | USA Today Bestseller | Los Angeles Times Bestseller | Publishers Weekly Bestseller

Women Rowing North: Navigating Life's Currents and Flourishing As We Age | Mary Pipher | Bloomsbury Publishing | 2019 | 262 pages | ISBN:  978-1632869609 | WorldCat

Author

Mary Pipher is a psychologist specializing in women, trauma, and the effects of our culture on mental health, which has earned her the title of “cultural therapist” for her generation. She is the author of four New York Times bestsellers, including Reviving Ophelia, The Shelter of Each Other, Another Country, and most recently, Women Rowing North. She lives in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Official Website of Mary Pipher

Interview