Local papers often publish occasional articles, or even weekly or monthly columns, by physicians and other health care providers in the community. Writing a column, or an occasional story about health in aging or caring for older adults, gives you another opportunity to introduce yourself to your community. It also gives you an opportunity to introduce the public to the special knowledge that geriatricians and other providers with special training in caring for older adults have. It can also, as in this article by Dr. David Reuben, offer an opportunity to alert the public to the shortage of geriatrics health care providers. The AGS Foundation for Health in Aging Web site is a great resource for finding topics and materials to use in your efforts.
Getting Started
Ready to Write?
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Finding FHA Materials
Examples of How to Adapt Our Materials
Finding the Right Publication
for Your Work
Submit Your Published Letters to Us
Let us know if your letter is published by
sending it to Erin Weller at
eweller@americangeriatrics.org. Please
include the publication name
and date of publication.
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It's Easier Than You Think!
The AGS Foundation for Health in Aging has numerous online resources that can help.
On the AGS' Foundation for Health in Aging (FHA) site, www.healthinaging.org, you can find, among other things:
- patient-friendly brochures, handouts and fact sheets
- summaries, written in laymen's terms, of the very latest studies in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS)
Any of these can become the basis for a story or column. In many cases, you can simply adapt FHA materials-by adding your perspective and making some minor changes-to come up with an article or column. You might, for instance, adapt the FHA's "Hot Weather Safety Tips" tip sheet by adding an introduction about the heat wave in your community and including some relevant information about your area. Click here to see how this works.
Proposing a Story or Column
If you'd like to propose a "Health in Aging" column or story on a particular topic to your local paper, call, or write or email the paper, attention: Editorial Board. (You can usually find phone numbers and addresses on the page or pages where the Editorials, Op-Eds, and Letters to the Editor appear.)
If you've already written an article or articles for lay people, mention these and offer to send them along as samples. It also helps if you have a list of potential story ideas, say 3 or more, to review with the Editorial Board staff.
Easy Ways to Use FHA Materials
The information on the AGS Web site is yours to use. You might take information from Aging in the Know and adapt it by adding some personal observations-and you've got your column or story. Or you might use an item you saw on the front page of your daily newspaper as an introduction to a topic covered in our publications, by summarizing the news and then "pasting in" the information we've published.
How to Reference FHA Materials
We are pleased to provide AGS members with our materials for use in patient and public education in their practices and through media outreach.The resulting documents represent a consensus as to best practice in a particular area and are purposefully written in simple, easy-to-read language to achieve the lowest grade reading level possible. Publication space permitting, AGS members who are adapting FHA materials for use in their own efforts may choose to use the following citation:
Adapted from {name of resource} a public education resource provided by the AGS Foundation for Health in Aging. For additional easy-to-understand information about this and other health and aging topics, visit www.healthinaging.org/agingintheknow.
Please note, we do not require that you specifically cite the AGS Foundation for Health in Aging in your columns and articles on aging topics.
Writing Tips
- Know Your Audience
Tailor your word choice to your audience. If you're writing for a community newspaper, use the same words you'd use while talking to your patients. Choose "the rash cleared up," for example, rather than "the symptom resolved."
- Stay Active
Active sentences - subject followed by verb followed by object - are easier to read than passive ones. (Compare "The committee recommended changing the policy to include dental work" with "The change in policy, to include dental work, was recommended by the committee." ) Use active sentences whenever possible.
- Break up Your Sentences
Very lengthy sentences are harder to parse than shorter ones. There's nothing wrong with a long sentence here and there; in fact, nothing but short sentence after short sentence can become tedious. But if you have one marathon sentence after another, try to break some into shorter sentences.
Writing from (Speed) Scratch
Food writers coined the term "speed scratch" to describe a quick way to make a meal from (almost) scratch - by combining prepared or partly-prepared items like cooked chicken breasts and frozen vegetables and, say, adding your own sauce.
You can write an article by using information from AGS publications in much the same way. Let's say you read a new study finding that many older adults - women, in particular - don't have their blood pressure under control. You can write a summary of the study and use that as the introduction to a story or column about controlling blood pressure as we age. After the introductory paragraph or paragraphs, you can add your own observations and paste in information about treating hypertension from the FHA's "Aging in the Know" site.
When writing, a few tricks of the journalist's trade can help. Journalists often rely on a form known as the "inverted pyramid." The introductory paragraph or paragraphs - the wide "top" of the upsidedown pyramid - report the news and usually offer a brief, broad-strokes explanation of why this news is important. Subsequent paragraphs provide additional details and context.
Here, a few tips on using this technique:
- Before you start writing, ask yourself, "What's the big news and why is it important?" That will be your introductory paragraph or paragraphs.
- In subsequent paragraphs, provide more detail and expand on the main point, drawing on supplemental information, including your own experience.
- When applicable, offer advice for readers and information on additional resources, such as articles on the FHA's "Health in Aging" site.
How Your Resulting Article on Hypertension Might Look
You use a recent study on hypertension among older adults as an introduction, paste in basic information about hypertension from the "Aging in the Know" pages of the FHA's Web site" - modified where necessary - and include personal observations.
(First paragraph - the news and an explanation of why it's important)
Many older adults, older women in particular, don't have their blood pressure under control, researchers recently reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Uncontrolled high blood pressure is dangerous because it can boost risks of heart attacks, strokes, disability, and death.
(Subsequent paragraphs, offering more detail)
The researchers studied more than 5,200 adults, and found that many of them, older women in particular, didn't have their blood pressure at healthy levels - even if they were taking medications. Only 23% of women 80 and older had their blood pressure under control.
(Personal perspective and insights, and transition to basic information about high blood pressure, and advice)
Many of my women patients continue to think that heart disease and strokes are something only men have to worry about. But this simply isn't true. High blood pressure is as risky for women as for men. Here's what you need to know about your blood pressure, and how to keep it under control:
(Additional information and advice adapted from "Aging in the Know")
Each blood pressure measurement has two parts, a top number and a bottom number. The top number, which is called "systolic," is the pressure when the heart is contracting and pushing blood out of the heart into the arteries. The bottom number, which is called "diastolic," is the pressure when the heart is relaxing and letting blood flow into it.
Normal systolic (ie, top number) pressure is about 120-130. Normal diastolic (ie, bottom number) pressure is about 70-80. A normal blood pressure reading, then, is "120 over 70"
People with high blood pressure usually don't feel sick or experience symptoms. So you don't know if you have high blood pressure unless it is measured.
Once high blood pressure has been diagnosed, your health care provider should check for any underlying illnesses that may have caused it or are being caused by it (eg, heart problems, kidney disease, diabetes, or eye problems). This involves a routine history and physical examination, as well as blood and urine tests.
Because high blood pressure can cause so many problems, treatment is important. The goal is generally a systolic pressure of around 135-140 or less, and a diastolic pressure of around 85-90 or less.
Treatment usually begins with changes in diet and lifestyle unless your blood pressure is very high or you have other conditions which indicate that medications should be started right away. Many people can benefit a great deal from making some changes in their lifestyles, including:
- lowering the amount of salt and fat in their diets
- drinking alcohol only in moderation
- quitting smoking
- exercising
- losing weight (if needed)
Drugs are generally used to lower blood pressure in more severe cases (eg, systolic greater than 160 or diastolic greater than 100) or when lifestyle changes alone are not enough.
(Your perspective/experience)
Different blood pressure drugs have different effects on different people. Sometimes, my patients get good results with the very first drug we try. Other times, we have to try several drugs to find the one that works best. We may also need to adjust the dose a few times to get it just right. As this new study finds, it's very important to keep trying until you get your blood pressure under control.
(Mention of additional sources of information)
For additional easy-to-understand information about controlling high blood pressure, visit www.healthinaging.org/agingintheknow/chapters_ch_trial.asp?ch=39. This is the site of the American Geriatrics Society's Foundation for Health in Aging. And talk to your health care provider.
Using Anecdotes
A well-chosen anecdote can make a compelling alternative to a more straightforward introductory paragraph, particularly if it's a personal anecdote from an expert such as yourself. If you have a good anecdote, one that illustrates or illuminates a particular topic covered in an AGS publication, you can start with the anecdote, then link it to AGS materials with a transitional sentence.
Include Time for Revisions
After you've written your column or article, it's a good idea to set it aside for a bit and then go back and revise it. Taking a break from a piece you're writing helps you see it from a fresh perspective.
WE WOULDN'T MIND A PLUG!
FHA Physician Referral Service
To obtain a list of physicians in our area who are specially trained in geriatrics, visit the AGS Foundation for Health in Aging referral page located at: http://www.healthinaging.org/public_education/physician_referral.php.
