Vital Signs: Effective programs for aging adults
As Baby Boomers enter their seventies, educators and health-care professionals are tracking the results of programs intended to help older adults maintain health and wellbeing. While many approaches for healthy living are consistent across the lifespan, evidence is accumulating for medical and non-medical strategies that effectively maintain or restore health as we age. And beyond health, how do we keep the zest and vital relationships that bring quality to our lives?
Among the questions that arise are these:
- How can we best respond to changes in independence and other shifts that occur as we accumulate illnesses and injuries across our lifespans?
- How do elders ensure that their relationships and interactions continue to meet their needs?
At the March 13 City Club of Corvallis meeting, Dr. Helen Kao and Jason Wallis will explore this topic. There will be plenty of time for questions from the audience.
Dr. Kao is the Medical Director of Clinical Innovations for Lumina Hospice & Palliative Care in Corvallis, which she joined in 2016 after nine years at the University of California, San Francisco. She continues to work regularly at UCSF as an associate professor and is board certified in internal medicine, geriatrics, and hospice and palliative care. She has special interests in house calls, dementia care, reducing polypharmacy in health care, supporting adults who experience physical and cognitive decline, and advocating for comprehensive, advanced care planning.
ason Wallis is the founder and president of Fitness Over 50, Inc. He arrived in Corvallis from Pullman, Washington, where he received a degree in exercise science in 1992 from Washington State University. He then graduated from Oregon State University with a master’s degree in exercise physiology and a minor in nutrition. He has been providing exercise training and wellness programming for mature adults in the mid-Willamette Valley since 1994 and established Fitness Over 50 in 1998.
The event is free and open to the public. Doors will open at 11:30 at the Boys & Girls Club of Corvallis at 1112 NW Circle Blvd., and the presentation will begin at noon. For lunch, Valley Catering will serve a Mediterranean build-your-own-rice-bowl (gluten free) with cucumber, tomato, olive, onion and feta salad, herbed brown rice, roasted vegetables, sliced tahini chicken, rolls, cookies, bars, ice water and lemonade. You are welcome to reserve your lunch by ordering or paying ahead.