UCSF, in partnership with three community-based organizations, hopes to increase awareness about the benefits of physical activity while motivating and helping older adults to create exercise regimens for themselves. By targeting underserved populations, we hope to address some of the reasons why people with low incomes have poorer health. Stewart is the principal investigator of the grant. 65 and older are inactive, with Latinos and African Americans having the highest rates of a sedentary lifestyle, according to 1995 data from the California Behavioral Risk Factor Survey. Physical activity helps prevent and control various conditions as people age, like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and osteoporosis, said Stewart.
Exercise also improves many other aspects of health and well-being.
Three community agencies will collaborate with staff from UCSF and Stanford University to adapt the program to be culturally appropriate and appealing to their community members. Organizers hope to enroll 80 to 100 seniors per year at each site for this program, reaching a total of 240 to 300 seniors over the grant period, said Stewart. The UCSF Institute of Health and Aging was founded in 1979 to foster collaborative research, education and public service in the fields of health policy and aging, and in 1985 became an organized research unit of UC San Francisco. The UCSF Center for Aging in Diverse Communities collaborates with communities to support minority health research, reduce health disparities seen among different socioeconomic backgrounds, and help improve the health of older, underserved Latinos and African Americans. The California Endowment, established in 1996 as a private foundation, makes grants to organizations and institutions that directly benefit the health and well being of the people of California.