Promoting the Health of Older Canadians – Examples from Developing Personal Skills and Reorienting Health Services

Webinar was held on May 12th, 2021

The soon to be launched book, Promoting Health of Older Adults: The Canadian Experience, edited by I. Rootman, P. Edwards, M. Levasseur & F. Grunberg promises to be a welcome resource for learners, educators, practitioners and decision makers interested in supporting the health and wellness of older Canadians. This unique and timely book aims to enable a critical understanding of the context, environment and issues related to older adults in Canada as well as best or promising practices in health promotion, public health and the care of older adults.

In this webinar, Dr. Irv Rootman introduced the book, providing a brief overview of its evolution and contents. Dr. Doris Gillis then focused on the complex interplay of individual and environmental factors influencing eating practices and the nutritional health of community-dwelling older adults as discussed in the chapter entitled, Building Personal Skills for Healthy Eating: From Risk to Resilience. Dr. Laura Kadowaki discussed the role of the community-based seniors’ services sector in supporting healthy eating for older adults and how sector strengthening and capacity-building can support this work, as discussed in the chapter entitled Improving Community Health and Social Services: A British Columbia Case Study. Participants were encouraged to share their insights within the context of current priorities related to identifying and addressing nutritional supports of older adults in their communities.

Presenters:

• Dr. Irving Rootman is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Public Health and Social Policy at the University of Victoria. He has been a researcher, research manager, program manager, professor and consultant in the field of health promotion for more than thirty-five years. Currently, he is the Chair of the Steering Committee for the BC Health Literacy Network. He was a member of the U.S. Institute of Medicine Expert Committee on Health Literacy and Co-Chair of the Canadian Expert Panel on Health Literacy. He has published widely on Health Promotion and Health Literacy. He was the lead editor and author in the Third and Fourth editions of Health Promotion in Canada.
• Dr. Doris Gillis is a Senior Research Professor in the Department of Human Nutrition at St. Francis Xavier University. Over her professional career, she has contributed to the field of health promotion as a public health nutritionist and adult educator in a range of health, education and community settings. As an academic, much of her scholarly work has focused on applying participatory research approaches to effect positive change in addressing challenging nutrition relevant issues such as health and food literacy, and food security across the life course.
• Dr. Laura Kadowaki is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Gerontology Research Centre at Simon Fraser University. Her areas of research include: continuing care systems; home and community-based services; aging in place; and community-based seniors’ services. Laura has worked on a number of research and advocacy projects including the Raising the Profile Project, the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, and the Lived Experiences of Aging Immigrants Project. Laura is the Past-President of the Canadian Association on Gerontology Student Connection, and previously served as the President and Secretary-Treasurer.