VANCOUVER, B.C. — Six innovators in senior fitness received recognition from the International Council on Active Aging (ICAA), which honored them in November with the 2004 ICAA Industry Innovators Awards.
Arnold Eppel, director, Baltimore County Department of Aging in Towson, MD, won one of the awards for empowering older adults to enhance their health and quality of life through several projects including a CD with information for caregivers of older adults.
The second recipient was Walking the Way to Health-Countryside Agency/British Heart Foundation in Gloucestershire, England. Launched in 2000, the initiative has led to the development of more than 300 community-walking schemes in England.
Winner TEXERCISE from the Texas Department on Aging in Austin, TX, is an intergenerational health and fitness program that educates and involves older Texans and their families in physical activity and proper nutrition.
NIHSeniorHealth-National Institute on Aging and National Library of Medicine, both part of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, won for developing the NIHSeniorHealth Web site (www.nihseniorhealth.gov), which is the first Web site developed to accommodate the cognitive and visual needs of adults ages 60 and older.
The fifth winner was Active Community Environments Grassroots (ACEs)-Washington State Department of Health in Olympia, WA, for its ACEs, which incorporates the bicycle and pedestrian community design needs of older adults into transportation policy decisions.
The last winner, the Center for Successful Aging-California State University in Fullerton, CA, has contributed work that has advanced active aging. Research conducted at the center has furthered the industry's education and led to standards such as the Senior Fitness Test, a battery of functional fitness tests, and FallProof, a fall prevention program.