Dialogue on Aging

Coping with Heat: Recommendations and Challenges for Aging

Dr. Theresa Pauly

As climate change intensifies, communities are facing more frequent and severe extreme heat events. This presentation highlights the growing need to understand how aging populations can prepare for and adapt to hotter summers. Drawing from current research and practical examples, it explores the physical, social, and environmental factors that influence vulnerability, as well as effective strategies for protection and resilience. Emphasizing both individual action and community-based approaches, the session aims to foster dialogue, share knowledge, and inspire collaborative efforts to safeguard health and wellbeing in a warming climate.

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Building Climate Resilience with Older Adults: Insights from the COALESCE Project

Dr. Mei Lan Fang

Climate change is already affecting older adults in Metro Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, posing risks to health, living standards, and overall well-being. The COALESCE (Championing Older Adults for Leadership in Environmental Sustainability and Climate Empowerment) project empowers seniors to become climate change-makers by engaging them as co-researchers to explore how climate breakdown shapes daily life, health, and community connections. In partnership with seniors centres such as Silver Harbour Centre, we have co-developed practical insights and strategies - ranging from addressing everyday challenges to monitoring air quality and extreme heat, and strengthening social supports - that enable older adults to take greater control of their living conditions. This presentation will share stories from the project, highlight opportunities for seniors to participate in research, and offer practical tips for building resilience at home and in the community. Together, we can reimagine Age-Friendly Cities and Communities that are inclusive, resilient, and responsive to climate change.

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The health of Canadians in the climate emergency: what can you do?

Dr. Tim Takaro

This talk has examine the climate emergency through the experience of a physician-scientist who's career has focused on the health impacts of climate change. Dr. Takaro described the stiff political resistance to overwhelming evidence presented by scientists from around the world, that Canada must stop building new fossil energy infrastructure, rapidly transition our energy production to renewables and turn to a future where societal well-being, not fossil energy profits, carries us into the future.

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Ancestral Awareness: Indigenous Contemplative Practices and Healing

Dr. Michael Yellow Bird, MSW, Ph.D

Indigenous contemplative practices and teachings have enabled Indigenous Peoples to develop an important paradigm of healing that has important implications for western medicine and health care providers who work with Indigenous Peoples. In this presentation, Dr. Michael Yellow Bird uses Indigenous wisdom and western science to show how Indigenous contemplative approaches can create important changes in the brain and body and can prevent, heal, and cure, many emotional and physical diseases brought about by colonization and the current Western industrial lifestyle.

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A Day Well Lived: Reimagining Seniors Care in Long-term Care

• Mark Blandford, President and CEO, Providence Living
• Dr. Jennifer Gibson, Executive Director of Professional Practice/Quality Practice Environments, Providence Health Care, Executive Director of Quality, Practice, & Program Development, Providence Living, and Adjunct Professor, School of Nursing, University of British Columbia

A Day Well Lived is the vision behind Home For Us – a social-relational model of care that transforms long-term care.

Join Mark Blandford and Jennifer A. Gibson, as they present Providence’s groundbreaking “A Day Well Lived” approach and the adjoining care model. This made-in-BC approach incorporates global best practices to fundamentally transform long-term care from an institutional model to one where residents direct their own lives. A Day Well Lived is built on five key principles: emotional connections matter most; home is not a place, but a feeling; residents direct each moment; human-centred design; and relationship centred care.

Unlike traditional care philosophies, Home For Us recognizes that aging adults thrive when supported to maintain independence, social connections, and purposeful personal routines. Learn how Providence is implementing this innovative approach at their care villages and contributing to research that will inform best practices and potentially transform seniors care across Canada. This presentation will highlight how Providence is working toward a future where communities worldwide can reform institutionalized models of seniors’ care to enhance quality of life through compassion and innovation. 

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Cancer as an Older Adult: Preparing, Managing, Thriving

Panel Chair: Dr. Kristen Haase, Associate Professor, School of Nursing, University of British Columbia

Panelists:

• Dr. Shabbir Alibhai, Professor, Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation, University of Toronto
• Dr. Kristin Campbell, Professor, Department of Physical Therapy, University of British Columbia
• Dr. Enrique Soto Pérez de Celis, Associate Professor of Medical Oncology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

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Healthy Living and Aging with Our Microbes

Dr. Brett Finlay, Ph.D

The microbiome has a profound influence on human health and disease, including aging processes. We will discuss what the microbiome is, and its various roles in human health and disease. Its many roles in aging will be discussed, including many proactive things one can do to impact both the microbiome and healthy aging.

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The Stress Prescription: Ridding Toxic Stress and Using Daily Stress for Good

Dr. Elissa Epel

We will review how different types of stress affect aging. You will take a close look at your day, identify hidden stress and ways to improve your stress resilience.

Dr. Elissa Epel is an international expert on stress, well-being, and optimal aging and a best-selling author.  She is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, at the University of California, San Francisco, where she is Vice Chair of Psychology and directs the Aging Metabolism Emotions Center.  She studies the environmental, psychological, behavioral, and social factors that impact cellular aging (such as telomeres, inflammation, and mitochondria), and is also focusing on climate wellness.

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Healthy Aging and Preventing Frailty

Dr. Grace Park

With lifestyle and supportive health and wellness interventions, frailty can be delayed or prevented. Research in gerosciences and healthy aging paves the way to age well at home and to build connections within the community.

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How Sensory Health Promotes Cognitive Health

Dr. Kathy Pichora-Fuller & Dr. Walter Wittich

Hearing and vision begin to change in middle age. Half of Canadians have hearing and/or vision difficulties by the time they are in their 70s. In daily life, the senses are important for just about everything we do: communication, safe walking and driving, and interacting with and enjoying the world around us. Sensory loss can affect cognitive performance and has been linked to cognitive declines. This presentation will provide tips for preventing, checking, and living successfully with sensory aging to stay physical, mentally and socially active. In turn, staying active can benefit cognitive health and healthy aging.

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Can We Translate Modifiable Risk Factors for Dementia into Our Lifestyle? Yes!

Dr. Serge Gauthier

Large scale epidemiological studies around the world have established potential modifiable risk factors for dementia. The latest update was published by the Lancet Commission on Dementia this summer, with fourteen factors. Some are relevant to early life such as less education, most are relevant to mid-life and the rest late in life. Many can be grouped under cardiovascular risks such as high LDL cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, hypertension, obesity, lack of physical activity. One can be surprising: air pollution. Others stood out during the COVID pandemic: social isolation, hearing and visual impairment. Traumatic brain injury became established in studying professional football players. Finally, depression and excessive alcohol are common. Other modifiable factors may be confirmed in the future with more evidence, such as dental disease and impaired sleep.

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Promoting Cognitive Health in At Risk Older Adults

Dr. Teresa-Liu Ambrose

We now recognize the importance of lifestyle behaviors in promoting healthy cognitive aging and prevention dementia. However, less is known about the impact of lifestyle interventions, such as physical activity, on cognitive outcomes in those at risk for dementia, such as those with mild cognitive impairment. In this presentation, we highlight past and recent research from the Aging, Mobility, and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab at the University of British Columbia that focus on increasing our understanding of how we can promote cognitive health in at risk older adults.

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Living Well with Dementia: Finding Joy, Purpose, and Connection

Dr. Debra Sheets

This presentation explored the impact of social isolation and stigma which pose the greatest threat to living well with dementia. Research indicates that fun, friendships and community are transformative in aging well. Similarly, activities that are meaningful, involve learning, and involve co-creation are key to living well with dementia.  Strengths-based approaches that focus on creativity and imagination are essential supports of persons living with dementia, as well as their caregivers. Participation in the arts and music adds to the richness of life while teaching important skills that support the identity of the person living with memory loss and that are vital to their well-being and quality of life.

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Ageing in the Right Place

Dr. Samir Sinha

Dr. Sinha discussed the importance of supporting older Canadians to age successfully in their own communities, known as “ageing in place,” emphasizing the need for responsive systems and services. He presented a framework for understanding “Ageing in the Right Place” (AIRP), highlighting stories of successful ageing and share best practices to reduce unnecessary admissions to long term care. 

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“Old Age Is Made Up“: How Identity and Aging is Changing in Profound Ways

Dr. Zayna Khayat

The presentation described the reckoning that has begun as we evolve from an ageist society, and how the identity of aging is changing. She shared ways to explore the complex thoughts and feelings associated with the process of aging. Dr. Khayat has provided the link to the chapter on Identity, from the book The Future of Aging, which she co-authored. 

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The Future of Aging: New Ways to Strengthen and Sustain Well-being

Dr. Janet Kow

Dr. Kow discussed a range of strategies that seniors with diverse abilities and needs can use to strengthen and sustain their well-being. These include building resilience, recognizing the significance of maintaining purpose and meaning in life, and using creative ways to address issues of frailty.

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Life Stress, Caregiving Stress, and Health: The Importance of Self-care with Exercise

Dr. Eli Puterman

Dr. Puterman presented information about the wide scope of stressful experiences that impact our health and wellbeing, the pathways through which these occur, and what we can do about it. Specifically, he presented findings from a set of studies showing how movement-based activities can promote health and wellbeing, even deep into our cells, in adults undergoing adversity across the life course.

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The Stories We Tell Ourselves

Dr. Davidicus Wong

Our personal narratives, mental models and mindsets help us make sense of the world, our relationships and the events of our lives. They can provide us with a sense of meaning and purpose but they may also limit and constrain us. In this presentation, you will learn how we create our stories and how we can adapt and transform them to achieve our positive potential in this life and experience greater peace and happiness.

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Thrive in Stressful Times: Introducing the Fountain of Health and “THRIVE” Approach to Well-being

Dr. Keri-Leigh Cassidy

The THRIVE© Approach to Wellbeing uniquely integrates key findings from science of well-being, brain neuroplasticity, resilience, preventative medicine, and behaviour change.

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Innovating Together: Co-Developing Tech Solutions in the UBC IDEA Lab

Dr. Lillian Hung

By 2031, 25% of British Columbians will be 65 or older, increasing the demand for specialized dementia care. UBC’s IDEA Lab fosters interdisciplinary collaboration to develop technology-focused solutions for senior care. Key projects include Assistive Robots, Virtual Reality, and Virtual Team-based Care. The IDEA lab works closely with people with lived experiences to address the unique challenges faced by individuals with dementia and their families.

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Alzheimer Society of BC Interview

With Barbara Lindsay and Jim Mann

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Digital Care Work

Dr. Kim Sawchuk

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Measured, Monitored, Optimized: Digital Technologies & Quantified Aging

Dr. Barbara Marshall

How can we understand aging through things that are measurable and displayed as numeric scores, trends, and algorithmic predictions? How do digital technologies like wearable fitness trackers (such as FitBits and Apple watches) and ambient monitoring systems (such as in-home sensor systems) transform bodily movements and functions into data? What happens to such data? In this talk, Dr. Marshall explored how this data is translated into actionable knowledge, shaped by cultural narratives that view aging bodies as potentially modifiable and open to optimization but at the same time inevitably in decline and always at risk. Drawing on insights from several collaborative research projects, as well as extant work in the emerging field of socio-gerontechnology, Dr. Marshall suggested some critical questions that might guide our thinking about aging, technology and digital culture.

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Can Dementia be Prevented?

Serge Gauthier

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• Inspiring Aging-Friendly Communities
  • Panel Alzheimer Society of BC - Watch the recording
  • Dawn Hemmingway - Watch the recording
  • Sharon Parkes - Watch the recording
• Social Prescribing: Bridging healthcare and continuing services: Panel  - Watch the recording
• A Mindful Way to Working Wisely with Worry - Elisabeth Drance - Watch the recording
• Healthy Aging vs. "Anti-Aging" - Janet Kow - Watch the recording
• Model of Care Redesign, Providence Living - Mark Blandford - Watch the recording
• The Power of Nature: Promoting Wellbeing During COVID-19 and Beyond - Kari Krogh and Paul Gauthier - Watch the recording

• Preventing and Treating Depression as We Age - David Conn - Watch the recording
• Keeping Healthy During COVID-19 - Janet Kow - Watch the recording
• Music and Well-being: the Sound Track of Our Lives - Susan Summers - Watch the recording
• Equip Yourself: Key Skills for Self-Advocates - Katie Hoy - Watch the recording
• From Surviving to Thriving During the Pandemic...and Beyond: Practical Strategies to Cope with Agining, Uncertainty and the Challenges of Life - Davidicus Wong - Watch the recording
• Exercising for Life: for Seniors of All Ages & Abilities - Nancy Cho - Watch the recording
• The Impact of COVID-19 and Moving Forward - Isobel Mackenzie - Watch the recording
• COVID-19 and Dementia: Strategies, Learnings and Support - Mariana Hudson and Avery Milne - Watch the recording
• Dementia and Persons Rights During COVID-19 - Krista James, Canadian Centre for Elder Law, BC - Watch the recording
• The Art of Living Well with Dementia: a Conversation about Creativity - Susan Cox and Myrna Norman - Watch the recording
• Hearing, Language and Music for Brain Health - Kathy Pichora-Fuller - Watch the recording
• Growing Older and Wiser  - Mindfulness and Aging - Elisabeth Drance - Watch the recording
• Supporting Seniors Well Being - Penny MacCourt - ​Watch the recording

• Looking at Life from Both Sides Now - B. Lynn Beattie - Watch the recording
• Maximizing Your Brain's Health in Uncertain Times - Alex Henri-Bhargava - Watch the recording
• The future is here: Choosing new technologies to support healthy brain aging - Julie Robillard - Watch the recording
• Move More During COVID-19 - Eli Puterman - Watch the recording
• Staying Connected During COVID-19 - Lillian Hung - Watch the recording