The Top 10 Longevity Trends and The Extreme Future
Dr. James Canton is head of the Institute for Global Futures, a California-based firm that advises business and government on the future. He’s also authored a new book called The Extreme Future, The Trends That Will Shape the Future for the Next 5, 10 and 20 Years.Here are his Top 10 Longevity Trends … do you agree with them? What else would you add? What’s interesting to Changing Aging is that Dr. Canton doesn’t talk about senior services in any of his Top 10 …our profession is going to have a huge impact on longevity in the next 5, 10, 20 years and beyond …
The Top 10 Longevity Trends According to Dr. James Canton1. Within 10 years, human beings living beyond 100, will be accepted reality. 2. Longevity Medicine will postpone aging and promote health, enabling people to be more active, more productive, and enjoy longer lives.3. Health-enhancement rights, fueled by the wealth of aging baby boomers and the fusion of nano, bio, IT and neuro innovations, will become a fierce social issue.4. Mapping personal DNA profiles, and linking that knowledge to prevent illness, will radically change medicine, making it boldly predictive.5. Health enhancement via biotech, stem cells, and genomic drugs will enhance human intelligence.6. Supercomputers, artificial intelligence, and advanced medical information technology will usher in a new era that will empower doctors to extend the quality of life.7. Personalized DNA diets will greatly enable longevity as people learn which foods enhance their health and prevent illness.8. Life-extension treatments, from genetic vaccines and designer DNA 'surgery' to smart drugs and neuro-medical devices, will augment health, improving intelligence, and maximizing beauty.9. Cognitive brain-science breakthroughs will protect the aging mind, refreshing vital memories, improving physical agility, and promoting human performance enhancement.10.The evolutionary transformation of human beings, via emerging breakthroughs in Longevity Medicine, will provide vast new choices of an astounding and alarming nature for individuals and society.
WE NEED: 60 Seconds of Your Time Next Tuesday, March 3rd
Vital Aging Network Forum - March 10th
For our Twin Cities readers:The Vital Aging Network is holding a forum from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 10th entitled Fostering Healthy Communities: Connecting health care providers, neighborhoods and people.Where: Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital6500 Excelsior Blvd., St. Louis Park, MN 55426Presenters:Michael Johnson, President, Park Nicollet FoundationEdward Ratner, M.D., Minnesota Medical Directors AssociationRita Kach, St. Louis Park, Senior Program CoordinatorMarney Olson, St. Louis Park Community LiaisonThe forum will discuss how St. Louis Park involves neighborhoods in planning city services, Park Nicollet’s role in this, and the 'Medical Home' model. Free and open to the public. More at www.vital-aging-network.org.
Aging Deliberately Columnist Liz Taylor Reinventing
Liz Taylor hasn’t let the newspaper industry meltdown end her work in helping people prepare for their future. When the Seattle Times cancelled her column of 14 years (Seattle is exhibit A of the faltering newspaper business), she repackaged her popular column and insights by moving them online.Her website is entitled 'Aging Deliberately'. There you’ll find her new newsletter service and past columns with the Seattle Times.According to Liz:
Most of us age accidentally, without planning or forethought. Our mission is to teach people how to age on purpose - deliberately!
Congratulations on your new venture, Liz!
Successful Aging Profile - The Mermaids and Long-Term Care
Congratulations to Ecumen Colleague Joanne Sherbrooke
If you don’t have that thing called 'care,' you really don’t have anything when it comes to serving people.Our congratulations go to Ecumen colleague Joanne Sherbrooke. Joanne has worked for more than 30 years as a nurse at Sunnyside Care Center in Lake Park, Minn. Sunnyside is managed by Ecumen and owned by Becker County.Joanne was recently named by our state trade association Aging Services of Minnesota, as Caregiver of the Year.There were a large stack of nominations that came in from Joanne’s colleagues. I’d like to share this excerpt, which tells you quite a bit about Joanne: It comes from Derek Martin, a colleague of Joanne’s:
'As I began my career, I learned immediate from observing and working with Joanne that being a nurse was so much more than passing out medications. It’s a profession of genuine and tireless compassion and kindness. It was because of Joanne that I made the decision to attend nursing school. To this day my goal is to be a nurse like Joanne.'Also, congratulations to the Ecumen community of Parmly LifePointes, which received one of three Excellence in Practice Awards. The award was given for the Vitalize! Wellness Centre.
A Follow Up on Behavioral Alzheimer’s and Dementia
Jeremy Olson, health writer at the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, did a front-page story yesterday, on behavioral Alzheimer’s and dementia. It includes an interview with Ecumen’s Janelle Meyers, who leads Ecumen’s Prairie Lodge community in Brooklyn Center, Minn., and new Summit House for people living with the behavioral challenges of Alzheimer’s and dementia.
The Tragic Story of Vern Gagne and Helmut Gutmann Puts Spotlight on Behaviorial Alzheimer’s
By now you’ve probably heard or read reports of a tragedy that occurred in a memory care center in the Twin Cities.Famed wrestler Vern Gagne apparently had an altercation with Helmut Gutmann, a longtime research scientist at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Minneapolis and violinist in the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra. Both talented men were living with the extreme challenges of Alzheimer’s and dementia. Vern Gagne is still living with it. According to media reports, Helmut Gutmann died from injuries sustained from being thrown to the ground by Gagne.In the light of this tragic story, is a very stressful situation that more and more families are dealing with: major behavioral issues that can come with Alzheimer’s and dementia.Changing Aging readers might remember the Minneapolis Star Tribune story on the new behavioral memory care community, Summit House at Prairie Lodge, Ecumen opened in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. The story provides insights into living with behavioral challenges that are only going to grow with more people living with Alzheimer’s and dementia.Our condolences to the Gutmann and Gagne families and to the caregivers who have worked closely with them.
Preparing a Home for Old Age in Young Age
Boomers Use of the Internet - 2000-2008 - WOW
Ecumen tech evangelist and strategist Kathy Bakkenist, who is pictured above with Eric Dishman, dirctor of product research and innovation at Intel, recently returned from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world’s largest consumer electronics show, which was held in Las Vegas. One of the big themes was 'integration' and how so many different applications that relate to wellness and aging at home will increasingly be integrated into several key devices, such as the home computer, telephone and television.For the first year ever, aging services technology was featured at the conference. The Center for Aging Services Technologies (CAST) of which Kathy heads public policy efforts, sponsored a 'wired' home to showcase how technology can be integrated into the home.Technology is only going to expand in aging and wellness services (check out the Boomer stats below). Last weekend one of the 'most read' stories at NYTimes.com was about health sensors, such as QuietCare, which we use at Ecumen communities. It was about the 4th or 5th time they’ve run a sensor technology story in the last two years. And every time it explodes with readership.… Now take in these stats from Lee Rainie of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which he presented at the Silvers Summit, which has posted a bunch of great presentations.- In 2000, 40% of U.S. Boomers used the internet, in 2008 it was 74%.- In 2000, fewer than 5% of Boomers had broadband at home, in 2008 it was 62%.- In 2000, 34% owned a cell phone; in 2008 72% owned a cell phone.- In 2000, 0% connected to the internet wirelessly; in 2008 43% did.Wow.