AFPHS Network
TFAH works with numerous stakeholders and partners to improve older adult health and well-being at the national, state, and local levels.
Florida
The Age-Friendly Public Health Systems initiative started with a pilot in Florida with 37 of the state’s county health departments. Now, over 50 departments have explored and expanded their roles in healthy aging, including creating and supporting collaborations between the public health and aging sectors, collecting and disseminating data on the state’s older adult population, and ensuring all planning and programming is done with an aging lens. The successful Florida pilot (AFPHS Phase I) was followed by expanded work with local partners, upgrades to the Aging in Florida Dashboard, and a Social Isolation Summit that provided tools and resources for county health department practitioners to improve social engagement among their older residents. For more details about policy and program changes, please access the Florida Summary Report. All phases of the work in Florida was made possible with generous funding from The John A. Hartford Foundation.
Michigan
In partnership with the Michigan Public Health Institute, and with funding from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund, TFAH supported enhanced partnership between local health departments and area agencies on aging (2019-2021) and helped to design a successful Age-Friendly Public Health Summit in Michigan in 2022. Michigan was also the focus in the development of a resource to promote more effective cross-sector collaboration, the Three Keys to Cross-Sector Age-Friendly Care. TFAH partnered with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and the Michigan Health and Hospital Association, again with funding from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund, to develop the Three Keys resource that provides guidance for public health and health care partners to create a seamless older adult care journey. TFAH is now working with the Michigan Public Health Institute to develop a state-wide AFPHS 6Cs plan to guide public health actions to improve and support older adult health and well-being.
Mississippi and Washington
TFAH is working intensively with the State Departments of Health in both Mississippi and Washington to help them create state-based AFPHS. Both states are engaging with healthy aging stakeholders to explore and expand the public health role in aging and to address health disparities among older adults. This project will continue to provide necessary steps for success that will be shared with public health systems in other states.
Federal Partners
TFAH is a Healthy People 2030 Champion!
As an organization that prioritizes optimal health for all people, Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) was pleased to be recognized in 2022 as a Healthy People 2030 (HP 2030) Champion by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). TFAH shares the HP 2030 vision of a society in which all people can achieve their full potential for health and well-being across the lifespan. This commitment is reflected in TFAH’s own vision and mission and permeates every activity and initiative in which we are engaged. TFAH also prioritizes the imperative of achieving equity in all of our work, promoting optimal health for all with a focus on upstream, social determinants of health.
TFAH has worked closely with HHS leadership, particularly within the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP), which administers HP 2030, to promote stronger collaborations between state departments of health and state aging agencies. TFAH has featured HP 2030 and the program’s alignment with the Age-Friendly Public Health Systems (AFPHS) framework in one of the AFPHS training sessions and is partnering with ODPHP to plan and facilitate the 2024 National Healthy Aging Symposium, which will highlight innovative multi-sector collaborations across the country that promote and support older adult health and well-being.