ASA - American Society on Aging

2007 Awards Programs
Recognizing Excellence in the Field of Aging

Award Winners

2007 BUSINESS AND AGING AWARDS

The ASA Business and Aging Awards, one for a large company and one for a small company, recognize exemplary company programs that meet the needs of older adults and their families, expand public awareness of the private sector's increasing involvement with older adults, and create performance models for other companies to emulate.

Large Business

CVS/pharmacy

Twinsburg, Ohio

Stephen Wing

At CVS/pharmacy, talent is ageless.

Our mature workers are living life to the fullest while taking on the challenge of making CVS/pharmacy the easiest place for our customers to shop.
In the early 1990s, less than seven percent of CVS/pharmacy’s workforce was age 50 or older; today that number has increased to roughly 18 percent. This major change was precipitated by the recognition of impending nationwide labor shortages, and by CVS/pharmacy’s coordinated partnerships in recruitment with the National Council on Aging, and other community, state, and federal organizations. In addition, CVS/pharmacy joined with AARP in 2005 to become one of its “Featured Employers” that are committed to recruiting and retaining mature workers.

CVS/pharmacy has been well attuned to the fact that by 2010, almost one in three workers nationwide will be at least 50 years of age. As baby boomers begin to approach retirement age, the pool of replacement workers will not be large enough to meet employers’ labor demands. At the same time, however, many baby boomers say they will keep working past age 65, at least part time, because they need the money or the health insurance, or want to partake in meaningful work, hone their skills, or be around people. CVS/pharmacy is an attractive option for mature workers, whether they are working for needed income or benefits, to learn new skills, help others, and/or to stay engaged in their communities.

Our mature workers also benefit from our substantial training, convenient locations, and flexible work schedules. With more than 6,200 retail and specialty pharmacy stores in 43 states and the District of Columbia, it’s likely that job seekers are familiar with a CVS/pharmacy close to home. Additionally, CVS/pharmacy created an innovative “snowbird” program enabling employees to transfer seasonally between CVS stores. Roughly 300 snowbird employees—most of them over age 50—have taken advantage of the program so far, with the majority of them transferring to parts of Florida during the winter months. The program provides older workers with the possibility of staying employed while living a desirable snowbird lifestyle, and in turn enables CVS/pharmacy to bolster its workforce during the months that its stores in snowbird destinations experience a drastic increase in customers.
Mature workers are a strategic asset to CVS/pharmacy’s workforce. CVS/pharmacy has the advantage of a workforce where many associates are completing their 40th, 50th, and even 60th year of service. Others have begun a second career with CVS/pharmacy and offer valuable professional experience and a strong, focused work ethic. Our mature workers understand the needs of our pharmacy customers and provide great service. They also act as mentors to many of our younger CVS/pharmacy colleagues. By doing so, they are helping to bridge the success of our past and lead the way to our future. CVS/pharmacy values our mature workers for their enthusiasm, dedication, and contribution.

Small Company

CogniFit

Israel

Shlomo Breznitz

CogniFit develops and markets software to improve the cognitive health of all sectors of the population. Based on the latest research in brain plasticity, CogniFit’s clinically proven and patented technology can help anyone and anywhere take control of their cognitive health. CogniFit’s family of software, available in seven languages, is user-friendly and easy to use. The programs assess and train a wide range of cognitive skills, both visual and auditory. CogniFit products have helped people of all ages all over the world improve their cognitive skills and their quality of life.

The MindFit family of products keeps minds active and sharp. The “fitness room for the brain” is for those healthy baby boomers over 50 who not only want to stay physically fit, but mentally fit as well. 20 minutes a day, three times a week, that’s all it takes.

Deterioration of cognitive abilities—memory, attention span, perception, and reaction and decision time—is a natural consequence of aging and most people begin to notice some changes by age 50. CogniFit’s MindFit software was designed and has been proven to slow cognitive loss and to improve brain fitness, even for people experiencing minor cognitive impairment.

MindFit starts with an assessment of the user’s mental abilities. The program automatically provides individually designed exercises specifically customized to the user’s cognitive profile. The program’s advanced features follow the user’s learning curve. As the user improves, the software responds with more demanding exercises. MindFit’s ease of use allows even those with little or no previous computer experience to readily work the program.
The assessment and training can be done in the comfort of home with no need for a professional advisor. MindFit can also be used by larger institutions on computers with multiple users, such as in retirement community recreation rooms.

CogniFit’s DriveFit family of products assesses and train driving-related cognitive skills, to make young drivers, older drivers and fleet drivers safer drivers. Together with our British partner, BSM, the DriveFit program for young drivers won the prestigious Prince Michael Road Safety Award. Our Golden DriveFit program sharpens the driving-related cognitive skills of older road users, including pedestrians, to keep them independent and on the road safely.
CogniFit was founded by Prof. Shlomo Breznitz, a recognized expert in psychology whose vision was to develop technology that would help keep people healthy longer and keep them mentally sharp as they age, no matter what their professions.

CogniFit’s technology can be adapted to an almost endless number of applications to help every segment of the population improve their cognitive function—programs that will help young drivers get reasonable driving insurance coverage, help children do better in school, make sure pilots are mentally ready to fly, prepare students for their next exam, keep Alzheimer’s patients functioning longer, and slow down the cognitive decline associated with aging. From early childhood to the third age, CogniFit products make life better.

The Brain Fitness Program™ from Posit Science

San Francisco, California

Jeff Zimman

Posit Science enables stronger, quicker, more accurate brains. We work in a brand new frontier—brain health. Our goal is for brain-span to match lifespan so that people can remain sharp, vital, and independent throughout life. Our global team of scientists translates the latest breakthroughs in brain science into practical applications to benefit consumers.

The Brain Fitness Program addresses cognitive abilities and is designed not just to address complaints of aging, but also to push even the sharpest folks to have faster, more accurate and stronger brain function.

The Brain Fitness Program works. Among other things, Brain Fitness Program graduates report improved memory, better ability to communicate, increased focus, energy and self-confidence. We conduct scientific studies with leading institutions and universities including Mayo Clinic, Stanford University, University of Southern California, and University of California at San Francisco. Across all studies we have statistical and clinical data that show, on average, participants gain ten years in memory and have statistically significant gains in speed of processing information. The science behind our program has been peer reviewed and published in Progress in Brain Research and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The program is easy to use. The program is comprised of six exercises that are performed on a computer. The program calibrates to the user’s level so that he or she is always operating at peak performance. You need to operate at the appropriate level of challenge for improvement to occur. Users need not have had prior computer experience.

We have a world-class team. Our founder, Mike Merzenich, PhD is a National Academy of Sciences member and co-creator of the cochlear implant. He is one of the early pioneers and current thought leaders in neuroplasticity, the notion that the brain can change throughout life if provided with the right stimuli. He has put together a team of more than 50 scientists from leading universities around the world. More than 50 patents have been issued on Posit Science technology. The company is funded privately, by the NIH and by venture capital.

We are pleased to have so many happy customers! We began selling the Brain Fitness Program to retirement communities in the summer of 2005 and are now up and running nationwide. A list of communities where our program is available is on our website. In 2006 we expanded our offering to make it available to individuals. In January 2007, Humana began offering the Brain Fitness Program for free to its more than one million Medicare Advantage members, and will continue to offer it at a greatly reduced price to its millions of Part D members.
To learn more about Posit Science, visit their website at www.PositScience.com.