CARP - A New Vision of Aging for Canada - Advocacy, Benefits, Community & Zoomer.

CARP - A New Vision of Aging for Canada - Advocacy, Benefits, Community & Zoomer.


Gilding the lily - interesting point of view seniors are a resource not a burden - food for thought

So yes, the argument can be made that seniors see doctors more often and for longer appointments than younger people in any given year — but the difference in time taken isn’t that much and, going back to that tax-filing rate, it would appear seniors are paying in full for the extra service. Perhaps the most dramatic evidence against the tsunami health-crisis thesis is the answer to this simplest of all questions: “How do you feel?” Pose this question to a group of 40-year-olds, as was done in the 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey, and 92 per cent will describe their physical health as “good,” “very good” or “excellent.” Ask a group of 60-year-olds the same question, and 83 per cent will give you the same good-to-excellent response; 70-year-olds — 78 per cent; 80-year-olds — 67 per cent. If this seems like some old people are gilding the lily by overestimating their actual physical hardiness, another table in that same survey, which used objective medical professional assessment as opposed to self-assessment, found that more than 70 per cent of 70-year-old Canadians were in “very good or perfect functional health.” Even 80-year-olds topped the 50 per cent mark.

Old age isn’t a disease any more than infancy is. Most Zoomers are active, contributing members of society, and we’ll be that way for the lion’s share of our aging years. Just staying alive is not our preference; living well till we die is. So spread the word: when it comes to health and wellness, we’re not just part of the problem, we’re actually part of the solution. We might even be worth more to the world alive than dead.
Moses Znaimer is president of CARP, a non-profit, non-partisan association for Canada’s 14.5 million people aged 45-plus and those who care for them.