Although almost every large noise producing company in the US has policies regarding the use of hearing loss devices, there was not much evidence looking at the efficacy of these programs on the hearing of the workers within these companies. So the Cochrane collaboration which is a large group of researchers who aim to put all the best evidence together in order to generate powerful reviews on topics such as this, looked at hearing loss strategies and came to the following conclusions.

Cochrane put together a systematic review that was aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to influence workers to wear hearing protection to decrease their exposure to noise. A total of 3917 participants from six different large-scale studies on this topic were evaluated. The evidence from this review shows that tailored interventions whereby the use of communication or other types of interventions that were specific to a group or individual and aim to change the behavior of that group or individual were superior. By superior they mean that those completing tailored interventions as described above were more likely to actually use the hearing protective devices than those undergoing no intervention at all. Cochrane then went on to conclude that individually tailored education was more effective in improving the use of hearing protective devices when compared with target education programs which address shared worker characteristics. However the most effective intervention came in the form of long lasting school based interventions which improved the use of hearing protection substantially, perhaps reiterating the point that you cant teach an old dog new tricks.

Although this review shows us that the interventions that are currently in use are better than no intervention at all. It must be said that better interventions to enhance the use of hearing protection need to be developed and evaluated to improve the prevention of noise induced hearing loss among workers. We know that hearing protective devices do work when used properly by workers and now the challenge lies in getting everyone to wear them to save their hearing in the future.

More and more of the population are becoming elderly adults, so community centers become more important as to how they impact the health of seniors.

These centers allow elderly people to spend time with their peers and to take part in many activities. For the rest of the community, there is much to learn from the wisdom and experiences of the seniors. Although, physically they cannot, many seniors want to give something to their community.

Often, seniors can share personal, firsthand accounts of the stories that the youth learn in their school history class. The stories that the elderly can share give them a chance to enjoy spending time with others, while bringing history to reality for the children.

In order to provide for the social life of the seniors, these centers often provide shopping trips, bowling excursions, and even golfing days. From a healthcare perspective, the large group of seniors gathered together is a perfect opportunity to provide for their wellness needs. This can be accomplished through testing, screenings, and inoculations.

In addition, many community centers provide such as laundry services to help the elderly out. Another option that the community centers provides is a type of care during the day so that family members can go to work or do their errands while the senior is provided for.

After the community center comes something called the independent living center. Seniors who take part in this have to be able to care for themselves and keep up with their basic needs. After this is the assisted living facility, which provides independent living along with extra care and help with basic needs. Assisted living options provide medical services for 24-hours a day.

Not all of the independent living facilities are the same. This is because any location that caters to only seniors can be classified as one of these facilities. Additionally, many of these facilities include a community center since the seniors can keep up their social life with their peers.

These community centers are usually funded by the government in part, and they are open to seniors over 65, widowers over 50, and disabled people over the age of 18.

Interestingly, a Pennsylvania study points out that the chances for a senior to take part in their local community center greatly increase if they are received medical help or Medicare from the government.

In addition, studies have shown that seniors who do not go to a community center have higher needs emotionally and socially. These people generally do not have as much medical assistance and have lower needs financially.

The idea of the community center is quite young in the United States, so researchers continue to consider the positive impact of these centers on the senior’s quality of life.