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What
Jobs and Careers are Available?
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Where
Do Professionals
in Aging Work?
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Professionals
in the field of aging work in a variety of settings. These include:
- community,
human service, and religious organizations;
- health
care and long-term care institutions;
- federal,
state, and local government agencies, including the aging network
(the system of service delivery to older persons established
by a federal law entitled the Older American Act);
- retirement
communities;
- academic
and other educational and research settings;
- professional
organizations; and,
- business
and industry.
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Some
professionals work directly with older persons. Their activities may include:
- developing
programs such as health promotion, senior theater groups, or intergenerational
activities for older persons in senior centers, community agencies,
or retirement communities
- providing
direct care to frail, ill, or impaired older persons in hospitals, clinics,
nursing homes, or through adult day care or home care programs
- counseling
older persons and their families about issues of caregiving, employment,
death and dying, or mental health
- advising
older clients about estate planning and investments, financing long-term
care, or housing options.
Other
professionals are less directly involved with older persons, but work
on their behalf, educate others, or investigate issues in the field of
aging. Examples of their activities include:
- conducting
research on the aging processes and diseases associated with aging such
as Alzheimer's disease or osteoporosis
- analyzing
issues related to older persons such as retirement opportunities, income
maintenance, the health care system, and housing alternatives
- planning,
administering, and evaluating community-based services and service delivery
systems for older persons
- teaching
courses on aging to college and university students, health care professionals,
and older adults
- advocating
with or on behalf of older persons before legislative bodies or in institutional
settings
- designing
products to meet the special interests and needs of older persons
- advising
business, industry, and labor regarding older workers and consumers.
Some
professionals devote themselves full-time to the field of aging. Others
divide their time between aging and other areas of interest within their
disciplinary, professional, or clinical areas.
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