By Erin Blakemore January
18, 2020 at 8:30 AM EST
What makes for good
aging?
For many older
people, it isn’t just the absence of health problems — it’s the presence of
meaning and connection. Social inclusion, which improves people’s ability to
take part in society, helps create sustaining ties for older adults, reducing
health-care costs and cutting the physical and mental toll of loneliness.
“Aging Well: Solutions
to the Most Pressing Global Challenges of Aging,” a new guide by
Jean Galiana and William Haseltine, lays out powerful reasons to consider
social inclusion in everything from urban planning to hospice care. Haseltine,
a scientist and philanthropist, is the chair and president of ACCESS Health
International, a New York-based think tank devoted to accessible health care.
The book looks at effective eldercare policies and practices around the world
and points to ways to help people age well.
Most of the
recommendations are straightforward, such as making long-term care insurance
more accessible and coordinate primary care. But the recommendations don’t just
have to do with costs or care facilities. Instead, words like “purpose” and
“resilience” echo throughout the guide.
(Halfpoint/Greenleaf Book Group)
The authors point out
several tactics that can help older people find purpose and connections in
their lives.
One of them is
cohousing, in which people share common spaces and neighborly support. Another,
intergenerational learning, engages older people with younger students in
universities, schools and care facilities. Even parks can help with social
inclusion — outdoor seating encourages generational interaction while giving
the elderly a safe place to enjoy their neighborhoods.
Social inclusion
helps combat loneliness, a condition long linked to poor health.
A 2017 study funded
by AARP found that older people who lack social contacts had higher death rates
and spent more on health care than their more connected counterparts. Social
isolation was associated with an estimated $6.7 billion in additional federal
spending.
The authors say
spaces and communities that include aging people fill “many psychological and
social needs of older adults.” They call such communities “a powerful antidote
to the pervasive systemic ageist stereotypes and prejudices seen around the
world,” and a chance for people to continue lives filled with meaning, learning
and relationships as they age.
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