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Emergency Preparedness for Older Adults – Planning Helps Reduce Risk and Vulnerability
Studies show that older adults consistently experience the greatest proportion of casualties during and after emergencies both in Canada and internationally. Evidence that 97 per cent of Canada’s first 10,000 COVID-19 deaths were Canadians over 60 years of age is consistent with these findings. Given that environmental hazards are occurring more frequently due to climate change, it is more important than ever for older Canadians to prepare for emergencies.
How Knowing the Signs of Mental Illness in Older Adults Can Help Us Better Support Them
Stigma around mental illness can affect any age group. For older adults, stigma can result from growing up in a family or culture where people didn’t talk about their emotions or feelings and were taught to “tough it out.”
Black Older Adults Need Better Supports to Age in Place
Throughout her over fifty year career in healthcare, Camille Orridge has made it her mission to reduce health disparities for people of colour in Ontario.
Care for Black Older Adults Matters
Creating culturally specific programs, services and resources for Black older adults in Ontario is a conversation that needs to happen during Black History Month and beyond.
What are you afraid of? The reality of living with anxiety for older adults
“The situation you imagine in your head is always scarier than reality.” Tony Watt, mental health clinician at Sinai Health’s Wellness Centre, often tells this to his clients living with anxiety. The Wellness Centre serves Chinese speaking older adults 65 years and older in Scarborough, a Greater Toronto Area community with a large Chinese speaking community.
The Future of Care is Virtual
Long before the COVID-19 pandemic descended upon us in March 2020, Sinai Geriatrics’ Telemedicine Program for Homebound Elders was providing virtual access to specialist care for frail, homebound adults over the age of 65 in Toronto. Individuals in this vulnerable population often have serious, complex health issues and have difficulty accessing specialist care.
Social Isolation During COVID-19: Older Adults are Surviving, Not Thriving
As we enter the winter months, the conversation around COVID-19 has shifted from how the virus has affected older adults living in long term care homes, to students going back to school and now dealing with the pandemic on top of cold and flu season. However, I want to start the conversation about older adults living at home in the community who are justifiably becoming anxious again with a second wave upon us.
Why Better Preventing Falls Will Be Key to Helping Us Age in Our Places of Choice
While many of the falls that happen in and around our homes are preventable, they remain the leading cause of injury and injury related hospitalizations amongst Canadians over 65 years of age. One-third of older people fall at least once a year, and account for an estimated $2.2 billion dollars annually in related-health care spending across Canada to address the consequences related to them.