Warmland Community Policing put on a successful Seniors Safety Fair event this past week at the Island Savings Centre in Duncan. Representatives from various seniors programs and services were represented. Nurse Next Door was there with friends from our seniors services network – our ‘Intelligent Aging’ group.

One of the fun ideas was a passport to visit each of the booths, where the passport required an answer to a pre-selected question. Our Intelligent Aging group chose an important question – ‘How do you age intelligently?’

If I were to ask you that right now, how would you answer? Go ahead, take 15 seconds and think of three things you think you should do to age intelligently.

Of course, you’re going to say ‘exercise’ first. Then you’ll say ‘eat well’. And then something else. And then you’ll think – one day soon I’ll start to do those things so that when I’m older I’ll be healthy. If that’s how you’re going to answer … then forget it. Do it now, or don’t bother thinking about it.

Anyway, back to the answer …

In my opinion, to age intelligently, you have to be active, yes. But it’s deeper than activity and nutrition. You must be informed. And you must be involved.

To be informed means you know where to turn when issues like ‘urgent care for a loved one’ come up. It means knowing when is the right time to seek medical advice for a weird, new symptom. It means getting regular health check-ups like the experts always suggest. It means consideration of how your home may need to be adjusted or renovated so that it will fit you as you change. It also means getting over the discomfort of talking about hearing loss or vision loss, death, your finances, and important legal documents like a Power of Attorney (POA), Representation Agreement and/or your appointed Substitute Decision Makers.

And as important as anything else, it’s being involved … involved in community events … involved in hobbies that interest you. It’s learning new interesting activities that previously eluded you, pushing out boundaries and learning to challenge yourself each week. It means fighting isolation … being involved in the lives of people who are important to you. It means being involved in your OWN life … being involved in LIFE!

In my mind, if you can get a grip on the above things, you are aging intelligently. You are minimizing the risk of early death, Alzheimers/dementia, cancer, loneliness and depression.

Is there really an alternative?

Tawnya and Chris Wilkinson
Nurse Next Door
Home Care Services
250-748-4357 (Duncan); 250-667-0190 (Nanaimo); 250-927-1895 (Parksville)
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