Celebrate and embrace active ageing

Celebrate growing old rather than talking about it as a “burden”, is the message new South Australian Thinker-in-Residence, Alexandre Kalache, wants people to remember.

“Let’s stop talking about ageing as a burden, as a problem and celebrate the fact that we are living longer, it’s the best thing that can happen to you, and it’s the best thing that can happen to society,” he says.

“Do you want the alternative? Do you want to go back to a life expectancy of 40?” he asks.

Dr Kalache has become a world authority on ageing, including more than a dozen years spent at the World Health Organisation, Department of Ageing and Life Course (WHO-ALC).

He is now in Adelaide as the latest Thinker-in-Residence to introduce his concept of the “age friendly” city and how to achieve it.

Mr Kalache says older South Australians will either become or remain active participants in society, and their input should not be ignored once they pass a certain age or retire.

He says success will only come after listening to older people and working with policy-makers to “get things right”.

“The concept of active ageing is important, because we want to optimise the opportunities for security, activity in participation, health and continuity of education,” he says.

A vision of an ‘age-friendly’ city started in his birthplace of Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Strategies which are put in place to create this ‘age-friendly’ city in South Australia will take a “look at [the] environment from the perspective of an older person”.

He says there are simple ways to improve the environment, such as the attention to lights at pedestrian crossings.

“Adelaide is a trap, I start crossing these avenues, the big ones, as a fast walker, and by the time I reach the other side the light is flashing red.

“My mother couldn’t cross any of the main avenues downtown in Adelaide, not one of them,” he says.

In Manhattan, where Mr Kalache resides, there are some “very vibrant” active ageing projects. For instance, pedestrian lights have been phased so that there is more time for older people to cross.

Other suggestions include the need for more benches in streets and parks for older people to rest. The quality of street pavements is also important, where slight cracks or raised areas of pavement can cause dangerous falls for older people, particularly those with poor vision.

Mr Kalache says the concept of the age-friendly city is all about thinking more about older people and not making things more difficult for them to live their day-to-day lives.

 “We need a change of thinking from everyone. But it needs to start with the city, the setting.’’

His research also recommends putting trainee doctors in ongoing contact with older people in the community rather than in hospitals or clinics to help build relationships and gain an understanding of older people.

Mr Kalache, who is in Adelaide for a month, will give a free public talk about his ideas at Elder Hall, North Terrace next Wednesday (8 June) at 10.30am.

He will return to Adelaide for two months later in the year.

Do you dread or embrace growing old? Let us know in the comment box below.