For retirement: • Financial planning is essential. • Plan for when you can no longer drive. • Plan housing to look after future disabilities. • Get involved. He also said we need more efficient care for chronic conditions. A panel followed Dr. Millar’s presentation. Dr. Irving Rootman – Health Literacy Dr. Irving Rootman is an adjunct professor at the University of Victoria and visiting professor in Gerontology at Simon Fraser University. Dr. Rootman defined health literacy as the ability to access , understand, evaluate and communicate information as a way to promote, maintain and improve health in a variety of settings across the life-course. Health literacy enables individuals to understand health contexts, which improve health outcomes and reduce costs. When individuals and systems interact, it helps them: • To make informed decisions. • To express views and enter into a discussion with the doctor about their condition and the doctor’s diagnosis and recommendations. • To manage chronic conditions. It also helps to advance health services and policies. When health literacy is low, it results in: • Inappropriate medication use. • Less care • Less expression of concern. • Difficulties using the health care system • More chronic care. • Premature mortality. What we can do: • Practice life-long learning • Practice life-wide learning, formal and informal • Develop new skills. • Ask questions. Practitioners can inform themselves. Connie Davis – Successful Aging Connie Davis serves as the Patients as Partners quality improvement lead for British Columbia. She recommends maintaining high cognitive and physical function to age successfully by: • Engaging with life. • Avoiding disease. • Physical activity. • Mind fitness. Engage in new things that are challenging and share activities and ideas with others. She repeated many of the suggestions already made for healthy aging but added fall prevention, medication management and controlling moods. Dulcie Brown Dulcie Brown suffers from systemic lupus but still has an active lifestyle. She suggested: • Be aware of changes to your body. • Keep a medical journal. • Always carry a list of your medications. • Maintain balance in life. Val LeBlanc Val LeBlanc is a strong advocate for improving our health care system. He maintains a positive outlook in spite of operating with a prosthetic leg. The key elements of healthy aging are: • Being positive. • Remaining stress-free. • Healthy eating. • Exercise • Managing finances. Following the panel discussion, we broke into small groups to identify top themes and key issues to consider when planning for healthy aging. Participants will receive a copy of all the ideas presented. Panel Discussion Eleanor Kallio – Planning for Healthy Aging Tools Eleanor Kallio, Senior Policy Analyst with the Ministry of Health, conducted research on planning tools available for healthy aging. She stated that: • One in two people over age 75 will have some form of disability. • One in ten over 65 have no friends. • Most older adults will live seven to ten years past their driving ability. On line sources include: • We care. • CMHC – Maintaining Independence. • AARP • BC Traffic Safety Foundation. • Services for Seniors Guide – Service Canada. • Ontario – Baby Boomer Volunteers. • meetup.com. She finished by recommending a book by Virginia Green “You could live a long time – Are you Ready?” Dr. Kendall Ho – eHealth Strategies Dr. Kendall Ho is a practicing emergency medicine specialist. He spoke about technology- enabled healthy living: • You can get your blood test results on line. • The future includes individual biometrics monitoring. • Look at what motivates people to live better. • Keep a record of your health with you or provide for its retrieval on line. • Make a commitment. • Partner with others. • Acquire web/smart phone skills • Check out web pages and apps. • Verify their reliability and try them out. • Measure the results. Andrew Hazelwood – Planning for Life’s Transitions Andrew Hazelwood is a recently retired Deputy Minister of Health. He pointed out that when you are working, you are always connected, even on vacation. When you retire, you lose all those connections and are isolated. It requires a big adjustment.