Lisa Meschino, is a curriculum development lead in the NORC Innovation Centre (NIC) at University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto, ON. Lisa has a unique background in business leadership, higher education and research that focuses on relational skills development and older adults.
Jen Recknagel, is the director of innovation and design in the NIC at UHN in Toronto, ON. Jen is a human-centred designer who is leading an innovation program aimed at reimagining support systems for older adults to age in place, with a strong emphasis on older adult leadership.
Healthc Q. 2024 Jul;27(2):62-69. doi: 10.12927/hcq.2024.27428.
Older adults overwhelmingly want to continue to age in place but would benefit from a community of support to do so. The Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (NORC) Ambassadors program - an initiative from University Health Network (UHN) OpenLab - uses a participatory approach to create sustainable, resident-led, aging-in-place groups in NORC buildings. NORC, which stands for Naturally Occurring Retirement Community, is a geographic designation used to describe an area, such as a building or a neighbourhood that has become home to a large number of older adults. Having a high concentration of older adults, NORCs are ideal settings for mobilizing communities and developing supportive networks. This article describes the creation and evaluation of the NORC Ambassadors program, which led to its inclusion as a foundational element of the model being implemented through the newly founded NORC Innovation Centre at the UHN.
老年人普遍希望继续在自己熟悉的地方安度晚年，但他们也需要一个社区来支持他们这样做。自然形成的退休社区（NORC）大使计划——这是多伦多大学健康网络（UHN）开放实验室的一个倡议——采用参与式的方法，在 NORC 大楼中创建可持续的、以居民为主导的、安度晚年的团体。NORC 是自然形成的退休社区的缩写，用于描述一个地区，如一个建筑或一个社区，已经成为大量老年人的家。NORC 拥有大量的老年人，是动员社区和发展支持网络的理想场所。本文描述了 NORC 大使计划的创建和评估，该计划已被纳入 UHN 新成立的 NORC 创新中心正在实施的模式的基础要素。
