Welcome to Communities for a Lifetime Site
Also read: Reauthorization of the Older Americans Act

Communities for Life © or its derivates Community for a Lifetime © Program came to be in 1997 and was first copyrighted in 1998 by my consulting firm, G.G.H. and Associates. When I was the Secretary of the Florida Department of Elder Affairs (1999-2001) I borrowed the first phase of my published work, the Elder Ready Phase, and gave it to the Department of Elder Affairs to use in the Elder Ready Community: Community for Life© Initiative and in the Elder Day at the Capital. My boss at that time, Governor Jeb Bush, endorsed my published work and began using Communities for a Lifetime: Elder Ready, Children Friendly and Family Focused © as part of his blueprint for aging. There is no contradiction between the fact that I am the author of the Communities for a Lifetime Program© and Governor Bush’s adoption of my copyrighted program during his term in office.

As Secretary of the Florida Department of Elder Affairs I began to implement my published work in 2000 when I started the Elder Ready Awakening Tour, visiting several cities in Florida and presenting to their local elected officials the blueprint to transform their cities into Communities for Life. Several media outlets documented my tour and my presentations; the record is there for every one to check. The record includes television interviews with WFS in Tallahassee, a story by CNN and multiple articles in the Tallahassee Democrat, Active Living Magazine. The record will also show that in 2001 the Council of State Government presented an Innovation Award to the Elder Ready Communities program based on my previously published manual. The Council of State Government‘s award led to the National Governors’ Association adopting the Communities for a Lifetime © program in their 2004 resolutions to be a national priority.

As with any copyrighted materials the Florida Department of Elder Affairs, all Area Agencies on Aging and all cities and counties using the “tool kit”, the name and the protocols of the Communities for Life© are required to acknowledge the author of the initiative. This practice of acknowledging the author of the Elder Ready Community©: Communities for Life © Initiative and its derivates and variations Communities for a Lifetime © has stopped since my departure from the Florida Department of Elder Affairs. The Department’s position has been that because I was the Secretary I have no personal rights as an author; information that is not correct. The fact that I am no longer the Secretary is completely irrelevant to my role as the author of the program unless there is a political agenda for such actions.

Agencies and organizations have been verbally led to believe the Elder Ready Community © Initiative, the Community for Life program © survey instruments and protocols were developed by Governor Jeb Bush and the department’s staff during my tenure as Secretary and not personally by me. However, if your read Florida Department of Elder Affairs printed materials you will find a very small disclaimer indicating they are not responsible for any actions initiated if you used the materials. This disclaimer buried in the text contradicts their open invitation to cities, counties, foundations and agencies to plagiarize materials that have been given copyright protection by the US Library of Congress.

I believe in the Communities for Life program © and all derivates and variations. I know you do too and I trust you will continue in your efforts to transform your community into an Elder Ready Community, a Children friendly place, a Family focused environment. Only by doing this transformation our counties and cities will be able to deal with the aging of our population as well as creating a secure place for our children to enjoy. The answer is not to invest in more transportation, but to make our citizens less dependent on transportation. The answer is not to expand exercise programs at the senior centers but to expand the sidewalks in your community. The answer is not to make people more dependent on shopping assistance but to make shopping more accessible to them

If you are using materials given to you by the Florida Department of Elder Affairs and the Destination Florida Task Force please consider this a copyright notice that Communities for a Lifetime© and all the components of the program: Communities for Life©, Communities for a Lifetime©, Communities for Living©, Access Ready Communities© are all copyrighted materials. This applies to the overheads, letters, survey instruments, format for proclamations, and any and all its derivates and variations used to transform communities into more family friendly places.

I trust you will take this notification seriously and cite the author in your literature and web page and in any other reference where you mentioned the Communities for a Lifetime program. I will be more than willing to work with you and others that not knowingly continue to copy the concept, protocols, survey instruments and procedures not realizing they are in violation of copyright laws. All I am asking is for you and your organizations to follow copyright protocols by identifying the author of the original program.

I want to commend you for having the foresight of believing in this program. A copy of the Original work for Communities for Life© and its derivates and variations dating back to 1997 has been given to the City of Dunedin to be part of their permanent display at the Dr. William E. Hale Senior Activity Center. The original documents were given to the center in the presence of two St. Petersburg Times reporters in 2002 during the center’s opening ceremonies. Make sure you stop by to visit the exhibit. Let me know if you would like a copy of the Copyright documentation signed by the US Library of Congress and copies of the Award given to me by the National Governors’ Association in 2000 for the Elder Ready Community: Community for Life Program.

Committed to working for better communities.


Gema G. Hernández, D.P.A.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Elder Ready Community: Communities for Life ©

All rights reserved re Common law copyright of trade mark-name/ trade mark Elder Ready Community: Communities for Life © as well as any and all derivates and variations in spelling of said trade name/ trade. Copyright © 1998 by G.G.H. and Associates, Inc. Said copyrighted materials may neither be used, nor reproduced, neither in whole nor in part, nor in any manner whatsoever, without the prior, express, written consent and acknowledgment of Gema G. Hernandez, hereinafter “Secure Party” with the intent of being contractually bound, any Juristic Person, as well as the agent of said Juristic Person, consents and agrees by this Copyright Notice that neither said Juristic Person, shall display, nor otherwise use in any manner, the trade name nor the Common law copyright described herein, nor any derivate of, nor any variation in the spelling of, said name without the prior, express, written consent and acknowledgement of Secured Party, as signified by Secured Party’s signature. Secured Party neither grants, nor implies, nor otherwise gives consent for any unauthorized use of Elder Ready Community: Communities for Life ©, and any and all derivates and variations, all such unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Reauthorization of the Older Americans Act

By Gema G. Hernández

This year the Older Americans Act is due for reauthorization. This could be the most important re authorization of the Act since it was signed into law in 1965 by President Lyndon Johnson. What is important about this reauthorization is that it is coming at a time when the White House Conference on Aging is also scheduled to take place. As a matter of fact it could be that the Older Americans Act is a product of the first White house Conference on Aging, therefore, when the two events come close together major changes are to be expected.

Among the changes planned that will be officially endorsed by the White House Conference on Aging is the merging of programs and services for elders with programs and services for disabled adults. This change will bring together two populations that besides their physical and mental challenges doing their activities of daily living, they have nothing else in common. This merger will also open the door for the Area Agencies on Aging to be transformed into Area Resource Centers for Elders and individuals with disabilities. With this transformation and with the merging of these two distinct target populations, both elders and individuals with disabilities have a lot to lose and little to gain in the process.

To make sure the integration becomes permanent the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging is proposing that a new title be added to the Older Americans Act; a title that would permanently establish authorized aging and disability resources within every service area in the nation. While the creation of the disability and aging center is endorsed, there is no mention of the additional dollars that the creation of such a center requires.

Under the umbrella of a single point of entry as the rationale for the change, each group will lose its individual identity and its uniqueness. Each group would lose control of its program budget. Individual budgets will be lumped together in the future into a “block” grant to be distributed in a first come basis. The single point also means that issues that are very important and distinct to elders will now be dissolved because it would no longer capture the attention of the new combined population, as it will only support single issues dear to the combined groups’ agendas.

If the rationale for the integration of services and programs is to obtain better return in the government’s investment and increase the individual agencies’ budget, then we must think of integrating not only the information and referral centers but also the rest of the network. Title III of the Older Americans Act is the place to do it and the logical next step will be the Senior Centers. Let’s give the Senior Centers maximum flexibility to meet the needs of their own communities by allowing them to provide leisure activities to participants regardless of their age.

Senior Centers can be called Recreational or Activities Community Centers and can be open to individuals of all ages with some degree of need or to grandparents bringing grandkids in the summer months to participate in intergenerational activities that will benefit both, or open to individuals with disabilities who like to play bingo, domino, practice tai chi or take dancing lessons. I believe this is exactly what is being recommended under the maximization of service flexibility and with the recommendation to provide funding for cities and counties to support the needs of their communities.

I am always willing to try new things, but before we do that, before we merge programs and services and mix populations why not first make sure the funding for what we have today is available, first of all. Let us make sure that we fully understand the resources needed to keep elders at home and caregivers well before we expand to other areas. It will be a disservice to the disabled population if we bring them into our network before we have our house in order.

It is obvious that the 2005 re authorization of the Older Americans Act and the White House Conference on Aging will be historical events and as such they will transform forever the legacy left behind by the previous enactments. It is therefore important that we take time to determine where we are, but most importantly where we want to be 20 years into the future.