A new platform officially unveiled Thursday aims to provide seniors and their caregivers with the information they need to manage their health ― in a context where, we know, there are not enough resources to respond meet all the needs of an aging population.
Developed by the AGES Foundation and the Foundation of the Federation of Specialist Physicians of Quebec, the Acting for Aging Well platform hopes in particular to provide its users with the information they need to know when to worry about the symptoms present and how to properly prepare for a medical appointment.
“At the AGES Foundation, we realized that people don’t really understand what normal aging is,” the president and founder of the foundation, Dr. Stéphane Lemire, explained to The Canadian Press.
“So we wanted to develop a vehicle to help people understand what it’s like to age normally, but also to ask questions about whether it’s normal or not, and to know what to do when you have the impression that it doesn’t work. »
The problem, he added with a laugh, is that seniors often don’t ask enough questions about their health. “People will blame aging for anything and everything,” he said.
However, health problems do not always present themselves in the classic way in an elderly person. Faced with symptoms they don’t recognize, seniors “throw in the towel by saying things like: “So growing old isn’t fun!” », lamented Doctor Lemire.
The Quebec Statistics Institute predicts that the proportion of elderly people will continue to grow in Quebec for another thirty years. The two foundations therefore believe that it is appropriate to prepare for what they call a “geriaboom”.
The Actpourbienvieillir.com platform is the first part of a project aimed at maintaining the autonomy of seniors, led by the AGES Foundation.
Online training using the platform’s content will be offered in the coming months, in addition to the distribution of informative content in doctor’s offices and caregiver groups.
“Caregivers are often seniors themselves,” recalled Dr. Lemire. So we kill two birds with one stone by reaching out not only to seniors in general, but also to the caregivers who support them on a daily basis. »
The site is currently divided into four components: planning actions to prevent accelerated aging; identify signs of deterioration in health; reflect on the importance of acting and consulting; and prepare for appointments with a health professional.
Regarding the last component, for example, the site offers seniors and their caregivers “certain communication bases and a common language which facilitates the communication of important information to health professionals during consultations,” he said. we explained in a press release.
These professionals, we remind you, “cannot know everything straight away”. Arriving “well prepared” for a consultation and using the right terms to describe certain situations can greatly facilitate their task, improving the diagnosis, helping the flow of appointments and contributing to the relevance of the care that will be provided. offered.
This educational work, said Dr. Lemire, is “essential […] so that people realize that yes, getting older comes with challenges, but getting older does not necessarily mean decrepit.”
“The majority of people, even if they have health problems, even if they take medication, even if they have special needs, should remain relatively independent unless there is a fairly serious health incident,” he said. he estimated. This is why we want people to realize that we can retain a certain power to act on our health, on our autonomy, and above all not give up on the slightest problem. »
The goal of the site, explained Dr. Lemire, is not to replace health professionals. But before turning to the health system, there is work that seniors can do upstream “and then ensure that when we consult, it is more productive”.
“And sometimes we resolve the problem without even needing to consult when we understand what is happening,” he recalled. There is still a lot of room to do simple things in everyday life to improve your situation. »
Dr. Lemire says he hopes that one day, Actpourbienvieillir.com will be for seniors what the site naitreetgrandir.com is for parents of children aged 0 to 8 years ― an essential reference point to which we turn rather than to search for information somewhat randomly online at the risk of coming across dubious sources.
“If we don’t intervene, if we don’t ask questions, if we assume that growing old means wasting all the time, deteriorating, being capable of doing nothing, well at some point given the underlying problems will grow, then at that point, it’s far too late for us to act in prevention, and people end up in the hospital, and that’s not the case. is not desirable in the sense that we could perhaps have done things before in prevention, in the years which preceded the deterioration,” concluded Doctor Lemire.