Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Aging (PDA) today announced a year-long initiative with public broadcasting stations WVIA and WITF called Aging Together in PA, aimed at presenting programming and driving discussion about resources for Pennsylvania’s rapidly growing older population. The collaborative multi-media effort, supported by PDA and AllOne Foundation & Charities, will provide comprehensive programming and digital content designed to educate and inform local and national audiences about the challenges and opportunities impacting older adults and their care partners in the Commonwealth.
“Pennsylvania is leading the nation in its approach to convene much-needed conversations about aging with our partners,” said Secretary of Aging Jason Kavulich. “Voices from every corner of our Commonwealth are informing the work we do. Our respected partners in public broadcasting, whose mission it is to educate, inform, and inspire on the most meaningful issues touching our lives, are creating a platform to help transform Pennsylvania into a network of age-friendly communities. We are excited to collaborate with them to bring empowering programming that helps all of us converse, listen and learn about aging in Pennsylvania and envision what it can look like, if we work together.”
Aging Together in PA will take on issues such as ageism, elder justice and elder abuse prevention, caregiving, housing, transportation, creating age-friendly communities and much more. To start the conversation on some of the major issues to be addressed over the next year, the initiative will kick off with a Town Hall on Elder Justice & Dignity that was recorded in September at the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine in Scranton and moderated by WVIA news director Julie Sidoni.
The Aging Together in PA initiative follows the May release of Aging Our Way, PA – the strategic 10-year plan designed to meet the needs of the Commonwealth’s older adults and improve services for this rapidly growing population. In 2023, Governor Josh Shapiro signed an Executive Order to direct PDA to develop the plan.
The panelists for the town hall include Secretary Kavulich; Patricia D’Antonio, Executive Director, National Center to Reframe Aging; Velma Carter-Dryer, advocate for older Pennsylvanians and member of the Pennsylvania Council on Aging, and Kristen Lees Haggerty, PhD., Project Director, National Collaboratory to Address Elder Mistreatment. The town hall broadcast will also include special video commentary from Governor Josh Shapiro, PA Supreme Court Chief Justice Debra Todd, AARP Pennsylvania state director Bill Johnston-Walsh and Age-Friendly Greater Pittsburgh CEO Laura Poskin.
The town hall will air on Tuesday, October 8 at 8:00 PM on the following PBS stations covering every region of Pennsylvania:
- WVIA – Scranton region
- WITF – Harrisburg region
- WPSU – State College region
- WHYY – Philadelphia region
- WQED – Pittsburgh region
- WQLN – Erie region
The town hall will also air on WLVT in the Bethlehem region on Tuesday, October 8 at 10:00 PM.
Learn more about the year-long initiative by visiting the Aging Together in PA website.
Currently, Pennsylvania is home to 3.4 million older adults aged 60 and over, the fifth highest older adult population in the country. The population represents 1 in 4 Pennsylvanians and by 2030, it will represent 1 in 3 and is expected to outnumber every other age group.