“Successful Aging: New Partnerships for a New Reality”is the theme for the West Virginia University Division of Social Works 24th Summer Institute on Aging June 12-14 at the Ramada Inn in Morgantown.

The Division of Social Work, a component of the School of Applied Social Sciences, joined forces with the Center on Aging to offer a continuing education conference featuring valuable information for providers of services for the elderly in the state.

“West Virginia has the third highest percentage of persons who are 65-plus in the United States,”said Suzanne J. Leizear, the new continuing education director for the Division of Social Work.”Service providers for the elderly continue to face an ongoing crisis regarding how to maintain a high level of service delivery while dealing with funding cuts, shrinking reimbursement and other economic issues.

“Providers are forced to be even more creative, seek private funding and rely on fund-raising more and more just to break even,”she added.”This conference is designed to provide some of the tools to help West Virginia providers survive.”

The conference will open at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, June 12, with a keynote address by Ann Stottlemyer, commissioner of the West Virginia Bureau of Senior Services. She will speak on”The Future of Aging Service in West Virginia: Everyones Issue.”

State Sen. Jon Blair Hunter, D-Monongalia, will present”Whats Ahead for Aging Policy? Perspectives of a West Virginia Legislator”at 4:15 p.m. Thursday, June 13.

Both sessions are open to the public at no charge.

Some of the workshops offered at the institute will specifically target non-profit providers serving the elderly. They include”Fundraising for Programs and Services that Affect the Aged,”“Enhancing Personal and Workplace Creativity,”“Budgeting to Avoid Financial Distress”and”Decision-Making and Problem Solving in Organizations Working with the Aged.”

In addition to”provider survival skills,”the institute is also offering workshops on issues specific to the elderly population, such as grief and loss, understanding Medicare and Medicaid, using volunteers to help the elderly obtain prescription medications, Alzheimers disease, special issues of elderly members of minority groups, dealing with aging parents, end-of-life care, advocacy tactics and public policy.

The entire conference has been approved for 14 social work continuing education hours, and four of the workshops have been approved for licensed psychologists. Approval for licensed professional counselors is pending.

For more information on the Summer Institute on Aging and/or to request a brochure or register, please contact the Continuing Education Office at 304-293-3501, ext. 3103, or visit our web page at http://www.wvu.edu/~socialwk/ce/ .Online registration is available, and discounts are offered to retirees.

The School of Applied Social Sciences is an academic unit of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. The Division of Social Work offers the bachelor of social work and the master of social work degrees in Morgantown. Additionally, the graduate program is offered in Charleston, Keyser and Martinsburg, and the undergraduate program is offered in Parkersburg.