A new $600,000 donation from AgeCare will fund additional research into health care for older adults at Mount Royal University, including the creation of a new Research Chair in Aging.
The funding will expand the work of MRU’s Centre for Health and Innovation in Aging, which promotes health and increased quality of life for older adults. This includes research into innovations in age technology, interdisciplinary research for healthy aging and social impacts.
The new Research Chair in Aging will work with MRU’s Chair in Older Adult Health to research aspects of aging and develop innovative solutions to improve the quality of life for older adults, a news release on Thursday morning reads. The Research Chair in Aging will also advocate for aging and seniors care and educate others about the importance of research in this area.
“AgeCare is honoured to partner with Mount Royal University to establish the AgeCare Research Chair in Aging. This donation represents our commitment to continuous learning, innovative thinking, and the advancement of care and services for our aging population. The work resulting from this partnership will not only benefit those we serve within AgeCare communities but support the entire sector across Canada,” said AgeCare CEO Salimah Walji-Shivji in an emailed statement.
Joseph Osuji, director of MRU’s School of Nursing and Midwifery, said the funding shows that the Centre for Health and Innovation is making an impact in aging care research. He said the research is needed now more than ever because Canada’s population is aging quickly, especially with the reduced birth rate and increased life span nationwide.
“The number of older adults is going, as a reflection of the community, is going to grow high. This means that their needs will be foreground. This also means that we have to do a lot, which should have started far back,” Osuji told LiveWire Calgary.
“We need to be able to find ways to help older adults age healthily, independently, improve their well-being and continue to give them the opportunity to make an impact on society.”
Jocelyn Rempel, MRU’s Chair in Older Adult Health, said the donation shows that this area of research is being recognized, which it often isn’t. She said many people have a negative view towards older people or aging.
“[Older adults] are often under-researched. If you look at a lot of research studies there, you know you don’t see older people being looked at. Usually, it’s younger people who are included in the research studies, and it’s usually kind of the forgotten population in research,” she said.
“So to have a chair position that focuses on research around older people and hopefully bring a voice to this group, I think is, is another important point that I’d like to that I’m hoping we will see from this from this chair position.”
Both Osuji and Rempel said the new chair position will address some of the ageist attitudes among MRU’s student population, which tend to be younger.
Rempel said she and her team started an intergenerational speaker series at MRU, which brings older adults from all over the city to campus and allows students to learn something new.
“The majority of the event is focused on the connection piece, so connecting older adults to younger people, and just allowing them to have a conversation and to get one another to understand one another and their perspective and their stories,” she said.
“I think the older adults come away and they tell me that how they just feel like they’re contributing and they’re giving back. They feel refreshed after participating in these events. Then students … I think their perceptions changed.”
Osuji said the funding and additional research will prepare nursing and midwifery students for the inevitable future. Students are introduced to clinical practice during their first year, which he says will acclimatize students to the realities of nursing and midwifery.
The Centre for Health and Innovation in Aging is already conducting research with additional funding from the government and other agencies, the director added. Students have been working on technology to prevent falls among seniors and monitor vital signs remotely. Projects also include connecting older populations in rural areas to bigger urban centres that will reduce the traveling distance between older adults and their doctors.
“When they go out there to practice, they see the challenges, and they come back to campus and they see this work going on to find ways to make aging a little more comfortable, to provide a high sense of well-being for our seniors … Students are then able to connect the theory to the practice and connect the practice to the research,” he said.
“That’s what can keep them going as lifelong learners, even when they graduate, and increase their interest in working in this area.”
