Program
Wednesday, May 15
4 to 8 p.m.
Check-in
7 to 9 p.m.
Film screening of Your 100-year life followed by a Q&A session with the film director Theo Kocken.
Thursday, May 16
7 to 8:30 a.m.
Breakfast and check-in
8:30 to 9 a.m.
Land acknowledgment and welcome address
9 to 10 a.m.
Opening keynote
Ritu Sadana
Head, Ageing and Health, World Health Organization
Learn about global aging trends. Find out how to embrace the challenges and opportunities of the aging across the life course. Listen to expert analysis of how state and non-state actors can work towards the world we want to co-create. Ritu’s speech will explore:
- global ageing and its implications for health and well-being, and how societies can promote healthy ageing in the coming decades
- why we should optimize people’s capacities and abilities across the life course, including what can be done by different sectors to understand the diverse experiences of older persons
- how our lives can unfold differently, with greater choice and flexibility, if people experience longer lives in better health
10:15 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.
Panel
There’s growing recognition of the need and value of non-partisan senior advocates at local and national levels. The panellists will share their experiences and how their roles are making a difference in their jurisdictions and communities.
Panellists:
- Susan Walsh, Senior’s Advocate, Newfoundland and Labrador
- Carolyn Cooper, Aged Care Commissioner, New Zealand
- Karen D. Lincoln, Director of the Center for Environmental Health Disparities Research, University of California, Founding Director of Advocates for African American Elders, Los Angeles, U.S.A
11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.
Networking lunch
12:45 to 1:45 p.m.
Concurrent breakout sessions
Professor Terje P. Hagen
Department of Health Economics and Health Management, University of Oslo
As the population of people 65 years and older continues to grow worldwide, healthcare service delivery and financing innovations have become crucial. Norway stands out as a country with well-developed health services. The Nordic country has relatively high user satisfaction and high life expectancy. Professor Terje P. Hagen will focus on how the Norwegian tax-based health system is designed and how recent reforms have affected the performance of the system. In particular, he will discuss the development of the primary care system, including the organization of home-based care, sheltered housing and the role of community hospitals.
Carolyn Cooper
Aged Care Commissioner, New Zealand
During the pandemic we woke up to the sorry state of our long-term care homes. High cost, shortage of health care staff, poor quality of care, and isolation are some of the system’s many problems. As improvements roll in slowly, is it possible to come up with alternatives to the current system? Is there even a cure-all?
Professor Hiroko Akiyama
Professor emeritus and visiting professor at the Institute of Gerontology and Institute for Future Initiatives, University of Tokyo
Many of our cities and neighbourhoods were built when the average life expectancy was much lower than today’s. Prof Akiyama brings her expertise in redesigning existing communities where centenarians along with residents of other ages can live healthy, active and connected lives. She will also share the story of Japan’s amazing Kamakura Living Lab, where the citizens including seniors, local government, academics and businesses collaborate to come up with innovative solutions to local problems.
Professor Sabina Misoch
Head of the Institute for Research (IAF), Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences (OST).
Professor Sabina Misoch, head of Switzerland’s largest joint project dealing with the ageing society (AGE-INT), will give an overview of the current situation of technology use for older adults in Switzerland: both the opportunities of using technology to support ageing in place and to support institutional care.
She will also discuss the obstacles and the ethical issues related to this topic and the acceptance of technology/robots among the different target groups. This interactive session will inspire the audience to learn from each other to adequately address demographic change through socially accepted technologies.
1:45 to 2:00 p.m.
Break
2 to 3 p.m.
Concurrent breakout sessions
Professor Karen D. Lincoln
Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health and Director of the Center for Environmental Health Disparities Research in the Program in Public Health at the University of California, Irvine.
Older adults are not a homogenous group. Discussions around ageism often exclude people from different racial, ethnic and gender groups who face various forms of discrimination over their entire lifespan. Prof. Karen D. Lincoln will share her research and knowledge focusing on:
- relationship of discrimination to accelerated aging
- attitudes, behaviour and social relations to better aging outcomes
- expanding the conversation around ageism to be more inclusive for people with lived experiences
Don Ezra, Retirement expert and author
Theo Kocken, professor at the School of Business, Economics and Finance, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Demographic shifts, increased life expectancy and changes in the nature of jobs call for visionary ways to secure our future financially. Don Ezra and Theo Kocken will discuss:
- the financial behaviour of adults not covered by an adequate occupational pension savings plan and the financial peril they face in their advanced age
- the need for adequate pension solutions for those whose work doesn’t give them access to a proper occupational pension plan
- the role of government in facilitating the creation of an innovative, easily accessible pension system and encouraging the availability and use of retirement products that provide a safe, adequate income even if we live to 100 years old
Shruti Singh, senior economist, Skills and Employment Division, OECD
With the increase in life expectancy, people are living and working longer than ever before. Yet, many older workers struggle to hold onto and advance in their careers. How can we create better and more meaningful job opportunities and discrimination-free work environment for older adults to continue to be productive as long as they wish?
Find out about initiatives organizations are taking to address this issue. Shruti will share:
- The latest international trends in employment, job quality and training of older workers
- Latest research on perceptions of employers hiring and barriers older workers face
- Innovative employer and government policies to retain the talent of a multigenerational workforce
Carole Osero-Ageng’o
Global Initiatives Lead and Africa Regional representative, HelpAge International
Advocate at the High Court of Kenya
Frequent natural disasters are no longer incidents that happen in distant countries of the South. Now they are closer at home. As many communities across Canada continue to face the threat and reality of climate change, it is time to take stock of how we are protecting our most vulnerable populations.
For decades, African countries coped with natural and human-made disasters. Humanitarian responses have been trying to address the needs of older adults during forced displacement. What can we learn from the experiences of African countries?
Carole Osero-Ageng’o, a relentless advocate for the rights, well-being and dignity of older people in Africa, will share how the voices and capacities of seniors to cope with climate change can be incorporated into the legal and policy frameworks around climate change and disaster management.
3:15 to 4:15 p.m.
Co-design session
Jordana Globerman
Graphic facilitator and strategy, user-experience (UX) and service designer, Canada
Co-design is a form of participatory design that brings diverse perspectives together to solve complex problems through intensive collaboration. On the first day of the co-design session, participants will work in groups to better understand needs, motivations and pain points of older adults. They will reflect on the information and anecdotes gathered throughout the conference and identify the key issues to develop concrete solutions. Graphic facilitator Jordana Globerman will aid the process and graphically record ideas shared during this session.
6 to 7 p.m.
Dinner
7 to 8 p.m.
Dinner keynote
DY Suharya
Regional Director, Alzheimer’s Disease International, Asia Pacific Region
Founder of Alzheimer’s Indonesia
Many of the changes we want are contingent on political government, whose term in office is often shorter than the time required to implement and actualize change. How can individuals and institutions take action to advocate for seniors and affect actual change?
Join DY Suharya, the founder of Alzheimer’s Indonesia and Asia Pacific Regional Director for Alzheimer’s Disease International, to learn what motivated her to take up the cause. She will share her story of starting a movement across the Asia Pacific region to help those living with dementia and their caregivers. Learn about the choices she made along the way and gain insights on coordinating national and international advocacy for better policies, all for the improvement of quality of life for people with dementia, older persons, and caregivers around the world.
Friday, May 17
7 to 8:30 a.m.
Breakfast
8:30 to 8:45 a.m.
Thank you
Martha Foster, RTOERO Board Chair
8:45 to 10:45 a.m.
Co-design session
Jordana Globerman
Graphic facilitator and strategy, user-experience (UX) and service designer, Canada
On the second day of the co-design session, participants will work with their groups to identify opportunities and make actionable commitments to address the issues affecting older adults. Graphic strategist Jordana Globerman will facilitate the process and create an artifact to sustain the momentum of the conference and inspire participants to move their commitments forward.
10:45 to 11:15 a.m.
Break
11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
Closing keynote
Tomson Highway
Award-winning author, playwright, pianist and composer, Cree elder and social worker
What if we could reframe our narrative of aging? An ageist perspective of aging sees it as something to avoid. But we are all aging, and there’s beauty in embracing the experience. Tomson Highway, a multi-lingual author and playwright, will share perspectives on aging to challenge us to reframe the narrative.
Registration ends soon
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