Dominic Ventresca & Koby Vanyo, St. Catharines – Older Adult Centres

Older Adult Centres – The City of St. Catharines offers a variety of recreation and leisure programs at our three older adult centres! Make new friends, get involved, volunteer and keep your mind and body active with our many opportunities.

Topic:  Older Adult Centres – The City of St. Catharines

 Seniors urged to maintain active and healthy lifestyle

Andy Redman introduced Domenic Ventresca whose topic was “Making a Difference in Aging:  For Ourselves and for our Community”.  Dominic studied gerontology at the University of Toronto and had a 36-year career administering long-term care and community services for Niagara Region. He continues to apply his learning through volunteer roles as chair of the Age-Friendly Niagara Council Board (AFNC), as director on the board of the Ontario Association of Councils on Aging and as a member of the St. Catharines advisory committee on older adults.

Dominic pointed out the world is facing a situation where there are more older people than children and more people at extreme old age. AFNC addresses questions like how do we foster better health and well-being in older age and address challenges and opportunities.  And will population aging be accompanied by a longer period of good health and sustained sense of well-being and extended periods of social engagement and productivity or more illness, disability and dependency?

The World Health Organization emphasizes that health and well-being are determined not only by our genes and personal characteristics, but also by the physical and social environments in which we live our lives.

The World Health Organization Global Network for Age-friendly Cities and Communities connects communities world-wide with the common vision of making their community a great place in which to age, focuses on action at the local level, fostering full participation of older people and the promotion of healthy and active ageing membership of approximately 850 communities in over 40 countries covering over 230 million people.

Older adults are valuable contributors to the community.  Dominic noted approximately 38% of the Niagara population is 55 years and over, compared to 33% for the rest of Canada. Current Niagara population growth is from commuters and retirees moving to Niagara. Most of today’s older adults are well, active, healthier and living longer to unprecedented levels, all of which provides for great opportunities. Older adults make up many of the volunteers for local organizations, and donors to local causes. Baby Boomers control the bulk of wealth and spending; they spend 66% more on goods and services than millennial households.

Dominic emphasized that older adults should modify what can be modified over their life course with personal lifestyle choices like healthy diet, activity, social relationships. Brain health and dementia risk reduction recent research has shown that there are several actions you can take to promote brain health and delay or prevent cognitive impairment. Things such as proper sleep, diet, exercise habits, lifestyle choices, and level of brain activity can all affect how your brain functions.   Research supports that engaging in several healthy lifestyle behaviours could prevent or delay up to 40% of dementias and lower the risk of Alzheimer’s by up to 60%.

The Age-Friendly Niagara Council’s vision is for an age-friendly Niagara community for all ages.  Its mission is to foster a caring community that optimizes quality of life as people age. Visit the  website www.agefriendlyniagara.com to find out more information.

Dominic was accompanied by Koby Vanyo, programs supervisor for older adult centres in St. Catharines, who detailed a host of opportunities to get and stay involved in a wide variety of activities.

Harold Nash, who is in his 90’s, thanked Dominic for his presentation and his emphasis on the importance of active aging.