The Canadian health and social-service network might have to get prepared. In a recent report by the Economist Intelligence Unit, a research and advisory firm, Canada ranked only ninth among 40 countries on the Quality of Death Index, a new ranking of how well countries care for citizens at the end of their lives.

The strain this lack of preparedness puts on family members at one end of the patient-care spectrum and medical professionals on the other could become quite serious in Canada.

Apart from the hospitals, much of the care given to the terminally ill in Canada is provided by the dying person’s family or friends. In 2007, nearly a quarter of Canadians said they had cared for a seriously ill family member or close friend in the past 12 months. Many of these caregivers had to stop working and use personal savings to survive.

As the enormous baby-boom population moves into retirement and beyond, this is a state of affairs that needs to be changed. Both the public and private sectors should look into ways to improve the life of the elderly at home, not just dying, but simply maintaining their independence.
 
I gave an interview to Profit Magazine last week on how to market to senior citizens and caregivers. While I do not claim to be a seniors marketing expert, my understanding of the boomer population led me to tell the publication that entrepreneurs, who can customize their homecare services to meet the needs of boomers who are taking care of  their aging parents, will succeed.

According to Friesen, being a woman has neither helped nor hindered her in her broadcast career. And so should it be. But it’s encouraging to see two very capable young boomers becoming the ‘voices’ of Canadians on two very influential newscasts, each reaching over an estimated TV audience of one million Canadian viewers.

Lisa LaFlamme has always been my favourite broadcast journalist. I recall bringing the famous Wolf Blass to an interview at Canada AM about 10 years ago when LaFlamme was one of the program hosts. Booze is not a natural subject of interest for a morning show, but we managed to pique the interest of the show because LaFlamme appeared to be a big fan of Wolf Blass wines. Since then, she has moved off the morning show to take on various news positions. She has received five Gemini nominations in the Best News Anchor category and has won several Radio-Television News Directors Association awards for achievements in electronic journalism.

Dawna Friesen brings with her over 10 years of international reporting experience having spent most of her time abroad. She covered the downfall of Serbia’s Slobodan Milosevic, the kidnapping and murder of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan and the guerrilla war in Iraq following the fall of Saddam Hussein. Last year, Friesen won an Emmy Award for her role in NBC’s coverage of the U.S. presidential campaign of Barack Obama.

Together with Katie Couric and Diane Sawyer, women boomers are now dominating the North American TV news broadcast space in a changing world when fewer and fewer people, particularly young people of 25 years and under, are relying on TV as a source of news. I look forward to a fresh perspective these women will bring to an evolving world of news reporting in the years to come.

New York is a very dynamic city – full of life, energy and choices. But living in the city can also be a hassle. It is good to know that city planners are thinking of better ways to make New York a kinder and gentler place to grow old. With the boomer generation starting to reach retirement age, the city’s plans are also based on economic merits of improving the lives of the elderly. According to the Times, other cities like Cleveland and Portland, Oregon, have also taken steps to become more age-friendly.

In 20 years, New York’s shares of schoolchildren and older people will be about the same – 15 percent each – a sharp change from 1950, when schoolchildren  outnumbered older residents by more than two to one. By 2030, the number of New Yorkers aged 65 and over – a result of the baby boomers, diminished fertility and increasing longevity – will reach 1.35 million, up 44 percent from 2000. About a third of the American population is over 50, and they control half of the country’s discretionary spending, according to the American Association of Retired People (AARP), one of the most powerful special interest groups in the U.S.

Apart from the decline of crime for close to two decades and the addition of more parkland, the city is now looking to enhance life in New York in more modest, but meaningful, ways. City planners also realize that when they are talking about age-friendly, they are not only looking at wealthy boomers, but also the less privileged, frail and old people. Slowing the pace of life is challenging in New York where even crossing the road can be tough. But the city is trying. According to transportation experts, while most adults average four feet per second when crossing the street, older residents manage only three. So traffic light signals have been retimed at intersections like Broadway and 72nd Street, where pedestrians now have 29 seconds to cross, four more than before.

With an aging population around the world, other big cities such as London, Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong and Toronto should probably be looking into the same measures to keep the economic power at home.

An estimated one in five baby boomers will fall victim to the disease. A doctor at the clinic said that one aspect of his job satisfaction is to hear the elderly talk about their experiences. Everyone’s story is different and this makes the job interesting. But the Memory Clinic is diagnosing and treating people who are beginning to forget their stories. Usually people can still give a good account of their lives and a lot of this is well maintained in the beginning. Patients are referred to the clinic by family doctors and their memory functions are assessed. Neurological assessment of patients focuses on memory, language and non-verbal skills.

Research focuses on why some cases of mild cognitive impairment become dementia and some don’t. The clinic also studies the rates at which impairment increases. If symptoms are identified early enough, the clinic can set up a medical regimen that will stabilize symptoms and slow down the onset of illness. Losing one’s memory is a sad condition. Many baby boomers have seen their  parents go through the process, so hopefully they will be more sensitive to the signs and symptoms in themselves. Let’s also hope that this clinic, together with other similar ones in the country, will be able to cater to the cognitive needs of the boomer population.

The Baby Boom generation is usually one that wants to over-control and manage things. But these college events are asking the baby-boomer parents to learn how to let their freshmen kids live independently. Issues like independence, breaking rules, not doing well in classes, homesickness are still things that parents worry about, and students deal with, every year. Parents only hear the kid’s side of the story, but very often, the issues are all being resolved without any lingering problems and without any involvement from the parents.

At Indiana State University, orientations have included as many as nine family members including grandparents. Universities and colleges are embracing the involvement of ‘helicopter’ parents, but boomer parents should also learn how to let go during their empty-nester life stage.

Tim Robbins’s ‘no pain, no gain’ attitude led me to conclude that whatever the motive, boomers still need to accept that they are getting older and need to approach certain activities with caution. While Robbins might be motivated by his professional desire to look trim and fit for the big screen, most boomers want to stay physically active to enjoy life.

According to the Canwest News Service, boomers like to take on extreme activities like whitewater rafting and rock-climbing; fast-paced sports like hockey; and even bungee jumping. Tennis and golf remain popular sports for boomers as well. Getting a good trainer to let them show you the right and wrong way to do something is probably the best approach.  According to physical therapists, middle-aged people who want to try an extreme sport should work their way up to it. They advise that instead of focusing on one extreme activity, boomers should do a combination of things. Sticking to one strenuous sport continuously can cause wear and tear over time.

Like food and alcohol, everything in moderation would be key to physical exercise too.  High-impact activities should only be tried once and according to experts, bungee jumping is not good for people of any age and once is quite enough to experience the thrill of your lifetime. If there are signs of extreme soreness and stiffness that exceed beyond the normal 48 hours, professional help should be sought. So long as they take the necessary precautions, baby boomers can enjoy the rush of extreme sports without seriously harming their bodies.

The ministers have asked their officials to look at the details of improving the CPP and to complete the work by the fall. What does ‘modest increase’ mean and how will this be achieved? The talks on pension reform, which are two years in the making, gained momentum last week when Ontario backed a plan that would include a moderate, gradual and mandatory expansion of the CPP.

On the flip side, the idea of a modest increase in CPP benefits falls short of what many unions are calling for. The Canadian Labour Congress, for instance, wants benefits doubled. According to the National Union of Public and General Employees union, about one-third of Canadians are retiring with only CPP and Old Age Security, which means they are living on about $17,000 a year.

For those who have long been complaining about a looming CPP crisis with an aging population in this country, this pension reform should be good news. Most economists have concluded that Canadians do not save enough for their retirement. It’s a bit late for boomers to start relying on their CPPs for retirement if they do not have other savings; but it’s never too late to start forcing the post baby-boomers to save more.

Boomers continue to discover their late-blooming talents and are celebrating them with their peers. A woman who was well into her 60s discovered, much to her surprise, that she was a good writer after she went to one of the writing workshops in last year’s Festival. The Festival got its name after research suggests that becoming engaged in music, painting, drama, storytelling or writing improves the mental and physical health of seniors and, by extension, helps them live longer, happier lives.

In its third year now, the Festival’s program includes jazz performer Rolanda Lee and her Gentlemen of Jazz, bestselling author Mary Woodbury, and performances by the Geriactors drama troupe and the School Boys Big Band. There will also be an art workshop and seniors’ art exhibit at the Art Gallery of Alberta, film screenings, storytelling, drama workshops and a choral fest.

A great idea like this should really be expanded to a national level. Perhaps Moses Znaimer and his Zoomer team could consider organizing a similar festival in all key markets across the country and bring some big-name boomer Canadian artists to the Festival? I recall when I visited Naples, Florida, last December, I was impressed by the quality of The Naples Players performing at the Sugden CommunityTheatre. The theatre group comprises primarily amateur boomer actors and if we can somehow pursue this in Canada, boomers will have a great creative outlet to flaunt their talents.