Spotlight on Seniors: Symposium Champions Healthy Aging

Tonight, we’re shining a spotlight on a group that often gets overlooked, our older citizens. The Ministry of Health and Wellness hosted a Healthy Aging and Nutrition Symposium, bringing together government leaders, health experts, and key partners to talk about how we care for our aging population. From cooking tips to understanding the changes our bodies go through with age, the event was all about empowering seniors with knowledge and support. Here’s more from the symposium.

 

Robyn Daly, Nutritionist, Ministry of Health & Wellness

“The objective of having a Healthy Aging and Nutrition Symposium is to look at what are we doing to protect and support our older persons and population. Many times older persons, they are sometimes forgotten and as you look at nutrition, there are many categories and areas where nutrition plays a big role. We have nutrition in children, nutrition in adolescents, adults, and we also have nutrition for older persons. So bringing everyone and all our partners here for a symposium is a way to highlight and promote information and also to sensitize. Today we had representation from higher levels of government. We had three ministers here today, we also had our partners. National Council of Aging is a big partner, Help Age is a big partner, Life. We also have persons here from Mercy Clinic as well. So we made sure we tried to reach as many older persons where the information that we provide here is going to be helpful and beneficial to them.

Britney Gordon

“So what are some of the information that are being passed on to them today when it comes to cooking and taking care of yourself, health-wise?”

Robyn Daly

“We had our opening ceremony this morning with our officials, and then the second component is more technical based. So we had our first presentation which is a physiology of older persons. So what changes do older persons go through as we age? That’s important because it ties in with the steps we need to take.”