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The lap shear test has been the standard for bond strength testing in plywood for years. Its goal is to predict the long-term durability of the plywood panels. This test has also been used for root cause analysis by mill quality management teams to identify issues. There are several problems with the test, two significant problems being, (1) the only bond tested is the one that is next to the veneer tested, and (2) the test is highly subjective to the accuracy of the kerfing. This paper will address the first problem, which is the larger issue. During the long-term exposure of the panel, the bond lines most likely to fail are the exposed surface or, more likely, the weakest bond. The lap shear test does not test all the bonds simultaneously, so there is no way to ensure the weakest bond is tested on each sample. The data included in this article clearly showed that there was a difference between the bond lines that would be missed in the standard lap shear test. Lastly, the main bonds tested are in the center of the panel; therefore, the result would be biased and may not be an accurate representation of how the panel would perform in the field. These deficiencies are remedied by shifting to the standard internal bond testing common in other wood products.

Background and Objectives The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may fundamentally change neighborhood environments and ways of aging in place. This research aimed to investigate perceptions of and engagement in neighborhoods since the pandemic onset among aging Americans. Research Design and Methods Data were from the COVID-19 Coping Study, a longitudinal cohort study of health and well-being of U.S. adults aged 55 years or older during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the present analysis, we conducted a qualitative thematic analysis of responses to an open-ended survey question about how respondents felt that COVID-19 has affected their neighborhood and relationships with neighbors. The survey data were collected June–September 2020 and analyzed for a random-stratified subsample of 1,000 study participants. Sampling quotas for age, gender, race/ethnicity, and education aimed to match the U.S. population aged 55 years or older (average age: 67.7 years). Results We identified 4 overarching themes: altered neighborly social interactions, support levels, and community environments; and no observed changes. Geographic factors that affected neighborhood engagement included age structure, sociopolitical diversity, urbanicity/rurality, and walkability; while individual factors included age, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, political orientation, health status, duration of residence, lifestyle, and personality. Discussion and Implications The results highlight resilience among aging adults and their neighbors, sources of individual and community vulnerability, and opportunities to strengthen social infrastructure to support aging in place since the pandemic onset.

As evidenced by the growing Age-Friendly University (AFU) global network, institutions of higher education are increasingly seeking to enhance the experiences of older adults accessing them for reasons such as lifelong learning, career development, and intergenerational engagement. This multi-method case study explored barriers, facilitators, and opportunities for an Oregon public university to engage its older community members and become more age-friendly as a new member of the AFU network. To gain an understanding of older community members' experiences with the university, researchers collected surveys from 46 members of the local senior center adjacent to campus and subsequently recruited and interviewed nine of the survey respondents. The researchers also used snowball and convenience sampling to recruit seven older adult research participants for participatory action research using photovoice, pairing the research participants with 12 students to capture their unique perspectives as they walked around the university campus. Findings revealed opportunities for the university to implement the AFU principles and increase age-friendliness, such as strengthening the senior center partnership, developing a lifelong learning center, and removing accessibility barriers. These findings will ultimately help shape the university's AFU vision moving forward and may provide insight for other universities working to become more age-friendly.

For three consecutive years, the Age-Friendly Design Committee (AFDC) of the Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE) used AGHE's annual meeting as a platform to conduct community-based service-learning workshops focusing on age-friendly design. These workshops assembled local stakeholders, conference attendees from multiple disciplines, and landscape and architectural designers to discuss age-friendly design issues and solutions for local environments. Each workshop provided hands-on design experience and the opportunity for AGHE participants to contribute to conference host communities by using their gerontological expertise to translate knowledge into practice. Local stakeholders learned the value of gerontological input when considering design issues. We describe the process of incorporating service-learning into the conference experience through age-friendly design workshops and how these bring together students, faculty, and design professionals from different backgrounds and disciplines to address local age-friendly design issues.

As our global older adult populations are increasing, university programs are well-positioned to produce an effective, gerontology-trained workforce (Morgan, 2012; SilversteinFitzgerald, 2017). A gerontology curriculum comprehensively can offer students an aligned career development track that encourages them to: (a) learn more about themselves as a foundation for negotiating career paths; (b) develop and refine career skills; (c) participate in experiential learning experiences; and (d) complete competency-focused opportunities. In this article, we discuss a programmatic effort to help undergraduate gerontology students integrate development-based career planning and decision-making into their academic programs and achieve postgraduation goals.

The COVID-19 pandemic is fundamentally changing neighborhood landscapes as we shelter in place and adjust our lifestyles. To age-in-place is to live in one’s home and/or community “safely, independently, and comfortably.” The ability to age-in-place is a public health priority for all, regardless of income or health status, and requires a variety of community resources to be sustainable. Since the pandemic onset, access to neighborhood resources was limited to reduce transmission risks. Changes to economic arrangements and socio-spatial norms have profoundly impacted daily life, though how these influence health and well-being is largely unknown. It is likely that these effects may vary in different communities and contexts; for example, neighborhoods that are able to self-organize to safely provide social support and resources may fare better. This symposium brings together cutting-edge studies in urban and rural U.S. places to explicate how the pandemic is transforming aging-in-place experiences and perspectives. The first presentation shows how rapidly community-based services have adjusted operations to meet the needs of their communities. The second presentation explores strategies to provide social support in rural communities. The third presentation highlights the social health needs of a subset of older adults who had not formed friendships with their neighbors. Together, these studies suggest that close examinations of aging-in-place conditions and mechanisms from organizational, socio-spatial, and social network perspectives are evermore important amid a pandemic. We discuss the implications of these empirical findings in relation to emerging theories within environmental gerontology.

• Senior centers varied in their organizational ties, social capital from ties, and how ties impacted centers' functioning.

Nicaragua is a very low-income country entering a period of rapid aging with limited geriatric training for health care professionals. To help build capacity and to enhance student learning, a short-term international service-learning program was implemented in 2004 in partnership with the Jessie F. Richardson Foundation and Nicaraguan community stakeholders. Graduate and undergraduate students at Portland State University complete coursework for one term in the United States then travel to Nicaragua for about two weeks to participate in educational, research, and service activities, primarily in group homes for older Nicaraguans. Students learn about global aging, gerontology, community development, service learning, and Nicaraguan history and culture, then apply their gerontology-related knowledge by training direct care staff, older adults and their family members, and students. The authors describe the impetus for and evolution of the program, students' evaluation of the program, faculty observations on program benefits and challenges, lessons learned, and future plans.

A crucial first step in preparing to become an Age-Friendly University (AFU) is seeking endorsement from the campus community and leadership. This presentation describes the mapping of the AFU principles to the strategic plan and initiatives of Western Oregon University, leading to endorsement by its faculty senate, and highlights a study of the older community members’ use of the university, laying the groundwork for advancing age-friendliness on campus. Data were collected through surveys (N=46), interviews (N=9), and photovoice method (N=7) with older adults, and data were analyzed using SPSS, team coding, and intensive group discussion to develop categories and themes. Themes emerged related to how the college campus is used by older adults, the need to promote lifelong learning to the community, and the need to address accessibility issues in order to be more age-friendly, providing helpful insight to other institutions of higher education seeking to join the AFU network.

As evidenced by the growing Age-Friendly University (AFU) global network, institutions of higher education are increasingly seeking ways to enhance the experiences of older adults who use them for reasons such as lifelong learning, career development, and intergenerational engagement. This multi-phase study explored the barriers and facilitators for older adults accessing a public university in a small Oregon town. The first phase of the study involved survey data collection from 46 members of the local senior center adjacent to the university campus. For the second phase, researchers recruited a sample from the survey respondents and used snowball sampling to conduct 12 interviews with senior center members, past and current senior center directors, and key contacts among university staff. The third phase of data collection paired student researchers with older adult research participants (N=14) in participatory action research to capture the unique perspectives of the research participants visiting the university campus using photovoice and a follow-up focus group. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS while qualitative data were analyzed using team coding and intensive group discussion to develop categories and themes. Findings revealed various opportunities to increase age-friendliness according to the principles outlined by the AFU initiative, such as developing a lifelong learning center on campus, strengthening the university-senior center partnership, and removing accessibility barriers in order to make the university campus friendlier for people of all ages and abilities. These findings are being used in a proposal to join the AFU network and to shape the university’s AFU vision.

In 2013, older adults, defined as those aged 65 years or older, comprised 14.1% of the U.S. population. By 2040, this percentage is expected to grow to 21.7%, or more than 80 million older adults. The expected increase in persons aged 85 years or older is even more staggering, with an expected tripling from 6 million in 2013 to 14.6 million in 2040. The World Health Organization estimates that by 2050, 2 billion people in the world will be aged 60 and older. As the population ages, primary care providers will likely see an even greater number of older adults in their clinical practices. Older adults visit the physician’s office about three times as often as patients under the age of 45 years. The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey found that from 1998 to 2008, the office visit rate for patients aged 65 and over increased by 13% (from 6.1 to 6.9 visits per person), and the rate for visits where medications were prescribed or continued increased by 31% (from 4.2 to 5.5 visits per person). The progressive growth in the proportion of older patients makes it imperative that health professionals be knowledgeable about the older adult population and social aspects of aging. Practitioners can maximize the quality of care of older people by understanding theoretical frameworks and integrating social theories of aging into their daily practice. This article briefly describes some of the prominent theories of aging and how social gerontology can inform and improve practices in health care. Theories of aging bridge both the realms of biological and social sciences. Health practitioners ground their perspectives and practices on evidence-based research, so their views of aging should also be substantiated by more than anecdotal experience. Most peoples’ perceptions of aging are influenced by both personal experience and societal views that can result in stereotypes that contribute to ageism. We interact with older people in our families and communities, often forming preconceptions and biases about aging that we may not always recognize. For example, a frail grandparent may lead us to think that to be old is to be sick. Although it is true that the incidence of chronic disease and disabilities increases with age, most older adults maintain their independence and ability to perform activities of daily living. If a physician equates old age with sickness, the consequences for their patients can be serious. False assumptions about the aging process can affect the care of older adults who may have many vital and active years ahead of them. Additionally, patients themselves may have stereotypes about aging that can also impact their health. An older adult who believes that it is normal to feel poorly may be less likely to seek treatment because they attribute their symptoms to aging.

The Association for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE) fosters the commitment of higher education to the field of aging through education, research, and public service. As part of AGHE’s last three annual conferences from 2016–2018 – in Long Beach, CA, Miami, FL, and Atlanta, GA – the Age-friendly Design Committee (AFDC) coordinated design charrette workshops with local partners (e.g., universities, public agencies) that led to design recommendations for advancing each conference host community’s age friendliness. We will highlight the evolution of partnerships with local universities, conference attendees, and community stakeholders. Local university partners included California State University Long Beach (CSULB), Florida International University (FIU), and Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC). In Long Beach, 2016, the AFDC worked with a CSULB gerontology faculty member, student, and operator of a residential care facility for older adults, recommending improvements for the home’s social and physical environments. In Miami, 2017, the AFDC worked with an FIU landscape architecture class utilizing PhotoVoice methods to incorporate older adult perspectives into the design of the Underline, an urban linear park under construction. In Atlanta, 2018, the AFDC offered a pre-conference workshop focused on age-friendly design concepts, curricula, and community-based research and service approaches. The AFDC worked with GGC faculty and sociology students to assess age-friendly features and barriers of Atlanta’s BeltLine, a network of parks, trails, and community service access points. These charrettes enabled AGHE conference members to collaborate with local community stakeholders to move toward more age-friendly environments.

Continuing changes in the world’s climate put the older adult population more at risk than other age groups. Multiple circumstances such as disasters and environmental events brought about by climate change impair the ability of older adults to maintain healthy physical and psychological well-being. Unfortunately, during these times, public and individual emergency preparation plans often fall short of having the needed resources to reach out and offer assistance to older adults. Co-sponsored by the Environmental Gerontology and Disasters and Older Adults Interest Groups, four presenters will highlight multiple circumstances where older adults face serious physical and psychological consequences as a result of climate change issues: 1) the loss of electrical power and its impact on hypothermia and hyperthermia in older adults, 2) the loss of basic public health services after Hurricane Maria and its contribution to older adults’ reduced psychological well-being including increased levels of suicide, 3) homeless older adults experiencing a disaster and their resulting increased need for resources, and 4) older adults in the path of violent tornadoes and their ability to cope on their own. These presenters will discuss actions, interventions, and development of emergency disaster preparation plans that would be beneficial for older adult response and recovery. The fifth paper will review the theoretical backgrounds of and previous studies on Anthropocene with a focus on climate change policy and practice. Collectively, these papers will address various means by which older adults are affected by climate change and optimal practices to speed recovery.

Background Healthcare-associated infections are a major focus for quality improvement in hospitals today. Surgical site infections (SSIs), a postoperative complication in cardiac surgery, are associated with increased morbidity, mortality, hospital length of stay, and financial burden. Methods A recent increase in cardiothoracic surgery SSIs (CT-SSIs) at our institution instigated a multidisciplinary team to explore infection prevention, bundle element compliance, and to identify interventions to reduce the CT-SSI rate. Key interventions included preoperative screening and decolonization of methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant S. aureus with repeated intranasal applications of mupirocin, universal skin prep with chlorhexidine for all patients, and additional antibiotic dosing upon initiating cardiopulmonary bypass. Results In 2014, the CT-SSI rate at our institution was 1.9/100 cases, which increased during the "intervention period" to 3.6 infections/100 cases in 2015 (16 total infections). Postinterventions, the CT-SSI rate decreased to 0.3 infections/100 cases (2 total infections), which was significantly lower than our baseline before the spike in infection rate. Conclusions A comprehensive interdisciplinary approach with multiple interventions was successful in significantly reducing the CT-SSI rate in cardiothoracic surgery at a tertiary care pediatric hospital.

Background Postoperative cardiovascular surgical site infections are preventable events that may lead to increased morbidity, mortality, and health care costs. Objective To improve surgical wound surveillance and reduce the incidence of surgical site infections. Methods An institutional review of surgical site infections led to implementation of 8 surveillance and process measures: appropriate preparation the night before surgery and the day of surgery, use of appropriate preparation solution in the operating room, appropriate timing of preoperative antibiotic administration, placement of a photograph of the surgical site in the patient’s chart at discharge, sending a photograph of the surgical site to the patient’s primary care physician, 30-day follow-up of the surgical site by an advanced nurse practitioner, and placing a photograph of the surgical site obtained on postoperative day 30 in the patient’s chart. Results Mean overall compliance with the 8 measures from March 2013 through February 2014 was 88%. Infections occurred in 10 of 417 total operative cases (2%) in 2012, in 8 of 437 total operative cases (2%) in 2013, and in 7 of 452 total operative cases (1.5%) in 2014. Conclusions Institution of the surveillance process has resulted in improved identification of suspected surgical site infections via direct rather than indirect measures, accurate identification of all surgical site infections based on definitions of the National Healthcare Safety Network, collaboration with all persons involved, and enhanced communication with patients’ family members and referring physicians.

This paper details the engagement of undergraduate students at Western Oregon University in research led by gerontology faculty. First, data collected from 53 gerontology alums using an online survey will be presented to demonstrate real and perceived benefits of co-research opportunities among those graduating from our program. Next, this paper describes a study involving students as co-researchers in examining the unique partnership between our university and the local senior community center. Students helped collect and analyze survey data from 46 members of the senior center, as well as interview data from 15 individuals, about this partnership. Findings reinforced ideas about benefits generated through intergenerational contact between students and older adults and provided new ideas for these types of opportunities. The study also informed how these types of research opportunities allow students to learn about issues for older adults through face-to-face interviews and qualitative data analysis.

Third places have been explored as places outside home and work environments where individuals gather informally with ease, comfort, friendliness, and mutual concern. In Monmouth, Oregon, a small American college town, both the local senior center and the public university serve as third places for community members. The co-location of the two organizations provides a unique opportunity for intergenerational collaboration and for advancing age-friendliness of the Monmouth community. Researchers investigated how the organizations might build a stronger partnership and foster more intergenerational exchanges both on campus and at the senior center. This study occurred in two phases; in the first phase, researchers collected survey data from 46 members of the senior center, and from that sample, they conducted 12 follow-up interviews with survey respondents. In the second phase, researchers conducted 10 interviews with university faculty/staff and key contacts from other organizations that partner with the senior center. Data analysis using revealed key findings from the first phase regarding challenges or barriers perceived by senior center members for visiting the university campus and what they saw as opportunities to strengthen the university-senior center partnership and generate new intergenerational exchanges. From the second phase, interviews with university faculty/staff provided context for how the university engages and maintains partners, and interviews with other senior center partners provided ideas for additional partnership strategies. This presentation demonstrates how a senior center and university can partner to share resources, enhance diversity in their communities, and contribute to enhancing livability and age-friendliness throughout Monmouth.

Aging and human development are complex processes that results in a variety of changes to the living organism over time. Aging at the individual level has been defined in many different ways over the years using many of similar characteristics. Arking (1999) proposed the following definition: “the time-independent series of cumulative, progressive, intrinsic, and deleterious functional and structural changes that usually begin to manifest themselves at reproductive maturity and eventually culminate in death.” These individual changes become apparent in biological, psychological, and social dimensions, and many theories have been developed to help explain how these processes occur. A selection of these theories will be discussed in detail in the following sections of this issue.

Undeniably health disparities and social determinants of health are connected. While there are many definitions of health disparities, in the United States the legal definition comes from US Public Law 106-525 and is as follows: Health disparities are differences in the incidence, prevalence, mortality, and burden of diseases and other adverse health conditions that exist among specific population groups in the United States. Whitehead in the United Kingdom defined health inequities as the differences in prevalence, incidence, mortality, and morbidity that are unnecessary, avoidable, and unfair. For our purposes, a health disparity occurs whenever a negative, unjust, and preventable health-related prevalence, incidence, or disease burden difference (e.g., cancer incidence rates and mortality rates) is measured between population groups (i.e., men and women, African American and Caucasian men, or low and high socioeconomic status groups). Health disparities grow out of social determinants of health. A social determinant of health is an independent factor that influences and/or shapes health. Such factors may be geographic, socioeconomic, psychosocial, behavioral, or social in nature. Disparities or inequities in health arise because of the circumstances or social determinants that influence how people live, work, and age and the social structures or systems constructed to deal with disease and illness. In the late 1990s, Link and Phelan opened up a provocative debate about which social determinants of health are key contributors to health disparities or inequities. We believe that examining how male gender affects health status, health care, and health behaviors can affirm male gender as a fundamental or root social cause of health inequity. As defined by Link and Phelan, the following four features characterize a fundamental social cause: (1) it influences multiple disease or health outcomes; (2) it affects these outcomes through multiple risk factors; (3) it impacts access to resources that may be used to either avoid risks or minimize the consequence of disease; and (4) the association between the fundamental cause and health is reproduced over time through the replacement of intervening mechanisms. In this article, male gender is explored as a fundamental or root social cause of health inequities by taking these characteristics and posing four questions about male gender.

A growing body of research emphasizes the development of an understanding of the relationship between older adults and their physical and social environments (Wahl & Weisman, 2003). Researchers, planners, policymakers, and community residents have been increasingly interested in shaping urban environments as places that foster active aging and independence among older adults. Senior centers have served a critical role in their communities as focal points for older adults, as individuals or in groups, to participate in services and activities that support their independence and encourage their involvement in and with the community (NCOA, 1979). The aging of the population and influx of baby boomers into the older demographic, along with declines in participation rates and funding, are challenging senior center staff to be innovative and adaptive in order to demonstrate senior centers’ relevance to future older adults while maintaining the programming and services for their current participants. This research is a multiplecase study of five unique senior centers located throughout the Portland metropolitan area in Oregon. Different types and models of senior centers are represented by the selected cases, as they operate under different governance structures and vary in aspects such as administration, funding, participant characteristics, community partnerships, transportation options, physical environments, and range of services and programs offered. This study aims to better understand challenges, strengths, and future directions for different types of senior centers serving a metropolitan area. Data collection at each site included interviews with staff as well as focus groups with senior center participants. Interviews with key informants enriched the findings and provided outside perspectives of senior center experiences. Data analysis revealed challenges and strengths that were i common across and unique to the different senior centers in this study. This research contributes to the literature in urban studies, community development, and gerontology by exploring potential opportunities for urban senior centers to adapt and continue to serve older adults. Recommendations were developed for how senior centers might capitalize on these opportunities and for how their communities might provide mechanisms of support to facilitate the continuation and contributions of senior centers in metropolitan areas.