Brown Bag Lunch Online Presentation with Maggie Kraft, Executive Director, A1AA, & Judy Sears
Monday, September 16, 2024 - 12:00pm
Brown Bag Lunch Online Presentation with Maggie Kraft, Executive Director, Area 1 Agency on Aging, and Judy Sears, Co-Presenter: With emergencies and disasters the new norm, we all know we need to be ready, but it can feel overwhelming. This session will help you focus on what is most important. We will provide tools to help you organize the information you need to have with you in an emergency, and help you get more emergency-ready one step at a time.
Maggie Kraft is a long-time advocate for seniors and people with disabilities and has worked in senior services since 1986. She has a Master’s degree in social work and has been the Executive Director of the Area 1 Agency on Aging since 2012. She spent 12 years as the director of Adult Day Health and Alzheimer’s Services at the Humboldt Senior Resource Center and 10 years as the executive director of Northcoast Advocacy Services, which ran the Long Term Care Ombudsman and Senior Legal Services programs. She currently serves as a member of the COAD Board (Community Organizations Active in Disaster) as a representative for the needs of older adults and people with disabilities.
Judy Sears has a B.A. in studio art and a M.A. in social sciences, environment, and community. Her research focused on how people living in rural communities use the CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) model to organize and prepare themselves for eventual hazards turning to disasters. Because one of her first memories was living through the 1955 flood near Yuba City, California, she has been determined that people should not simply be scared of what might happen, but educate themselves about what could happen -- and take steps to make preparations to keep themselves, their families, friends, and neighbors informed and ready with the goal of remaining safe. Education and networking are key!
As one of 33 state and federally designated Area Agencies in California, A1AA provides leadership and services that support and promote healthy aging. A1AA has been serving Humboldt and Del Norte counties since 1980 with a variety of services. Learn more at www.a1aa.org.
