Seniors health forum to explore aging in place, caregiver wellbeing
Our goal is to improve and maximize independence of seniors.
This year’s Seniors’ Health and Wellness Forum will focus on connecting seniors, their families and caregivers, with information and resources on health, wellness and social supports that help seniors age well in the community.
The forum, sponsored by Age Friendly Edmonton and organized by Sage Seniors Association, offers a day of informational sessions, split into three blocks with three sessions to choose from in each block. To develop the sessions, Sage and a committee of community partners use the guide Thinking About Your Future? Plan Now to Age in Place—a Checklist released by the Forum of Federal/provincial/territorial Ministers Responsible for Seniors in 2015.
“It is a really great checklist that has a lot of benefit,” says Anne Summach, director of health services for Sage. “We just reviewed it again with our own staff, [because] we can offer it as an assessment tool to help seniors think about where they’re at.”
The checklist covers important points, like how seniors plan to take care of their physical and mental health, where seniors plan to live as they age, how they plan to get around, how they will afford to live after retirement, how they plan to stay connected and safe, and how they will access necessary services and supports.
“We’ve tried to organize the Seniors’ Health and Wellness Forum according to the categories in the age in place checklist, because our goal is to improve and maximize independence of seniors,” Summach says.
As an example, last year Summach did a presentation on de-prescribing that looked at whether or not seniors actually needed to be taking all of the medication prescribed to them.
To mix things up, this year Sage’s pharmacist will talk about the myths and facts of medication in a session called Evaluating the Use of Vitamins in Treating Diabetes.
SUPPORTING SENIORS’ WELLBEING
The forum’s sponsor will also be running a session regarding its current projects.
Age Friendly Edmonton (AFE) is an initiative to build a city that values, respects and actively supports the well-being of seniors, co-led by the City of Edmonton and the Edmonton Seniors Coordinating Council (ESCC). The initiative has been actively implementing projects since 2013.
Caroline Gee, age friendly community connector for the ESCC, says one of the projects they’ll be talking about is their podcast network.
“We’re going to be starting off with a series of podcasts that will have a real intergenerational focus, so that people understand diversity and that the generations can come together and talk about different issues so that they have an understanding of where the other is coming from,” she says.
As an example, Gee says they might have an immigrant senior who came over in the 1950s speaking with a more recent immigrant about how their experiences compare.
Another project is the trishaw sponsorship program, where AFE will sponsor the purchase of a vehicle similar to a rickshaw—but with a bike in the back and two seats in the front—for nursing homes.
“It’s an opportunity to get older adults who are in a nursing home into the community and into fresh air,” Gee says.
TURNING THE SPOTLIGHT ON CAREGIVERS
One of the day’s sessions, which focuses on caregiver wellbeing, will actually be offered three times—once during each block.
Summach, from Sage, says it was important for Re-discovering Self-care for Caregivers
to be offered during each block because of the increasing awareness of the stress that caregivers are under.
“Not only on middle-aged adults caring for their senior parent, but people caring for friends, spouses caring for each other, older adults caring for even older parents—so we have people who are in their 60s and 70s, who have their own issues, who are caring for their parent, who is 80 to 100,” she says. “So there’s a renewed push to identify caregiver stress in the health marketplace in Alberta and in the Edmonton zone.”
The session is being put on by Caregivers Alberta, which was founded as the Alberta Caregivers Association in 2011.
“It started from people who were in that family caregiving role,” explains Johnna Lowther, provincial program lead for the organization. “People who had experienced what it was like trying to care for a loved one and the challenges that arose with that.”
Caregivers Alberta offers multiple programs that allow caregivers to connect with peers and find ways to care for themselves while providing care for others.
Lowther will be leading a panel discussion that addresses caring for the mind, body and spirit.
“I centered the theme around re-discovering selfcare and empowering your mind, your body and your spirit in order to reclaim space for your own health and well-being,” she says.
Panelists include Sandra Griff of Ever-changing Life, who will speak to the mind; Jenni Hartt of Talk Dirt to Me Nutritional Consultation, who will speak to the body; and Deeanne Reindeau of Your Holistic Earth, who will speak to the spirit.
The Seniors’ Health and Wellness Forum takes place Saturday, Nov. 2 from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Central Lions Seniors Recreation Centre (11113 113 St.). Lunch and refreshments will be provided and parking is also free.
To register, call 780-8098604 or email mstover@ mysage.ca. Summach says people can register at any time, potentially even the day of, but if you wait until after Wednesday, Oct. 30, you may not get a boxed lunch.