Dr. Norman Smith, an emergency physician, sees the value of virtual care firsthand in his work in Inuvik, the Northwest Territories, where he is responsible for seven small communities.

When Rita Flanagan’s family physician retired after 35 years in practice, many of his Fredericton patients were left without a doctor.

Volunteering is a way for seniors to retain a sense of self and to continue to cultivate meaning in their lives; Canadian seniors are volunteering in record numbers.

Breathing conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are a major cause of hospital admissions in Canada.

In late June, several of Canada’s leading health care experts gathered for an Economic Club of Canada lunchtime event.

On June 17, the federal government announced Canada’s first national dementia strategy. The guiding principle of this ambitious strategy envisions a future wherein all Canadians living with dementia and their caregivers are supported.

Geriatric day hospitals are community-based or hospital outpatient programs intended to prevent unnecessary emergency department visits, hospital admissions and nursing home admissions

Treating senior patients at home, where they feel most comfortable: it’s such a simple idea, but making it happen in Quebec City required both inspiration and follow-through.

What if technology could be used to enable seniors with reduced autonomy to live at home for as long as possible?

In November 2018, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), along with other stakeholders, attended a roundtable meeting hosted by the Canadian Association for Long Term Care (CALTC). The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the widespread effects of shortages in the health care workforce (known as health human resources or HHR) on seniors care.

Seniors ministers and parliamentary secretaries from nine provinces, along with their staff, attended a special briefing last week, sponsored by the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), on the looming seniors’ care crisis.

For aging in place to be maximally effective, multidimensional preventative home-visit programs (MPHVPs) focusing on multidisciplinary assessment, diagnostics and intervention targeted to keeping seniors at home are essential.

Due to the lack of beds in hospitals and public residential and long-term care centres (CHSLDs), the Quebec health care system has for several years housed seniors with reduced autonomy in 212 private residences

Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House, a community group that provides services for everyone from seniors to babies in a culturally diverse population, used their $10,000 grant from the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) Foundation to start their Nourishing our Seniors at Home (NOSH) program.

Does someone you love suffer from dementia?

Today the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) is celebrating National Physician’s Day.

Researcher Galit Nimrod surveyed over 500 Internet users aged 60 years and older in Israel to explore how ICT use affects older populations.

Read more about these recipients of a Healthy Canadians Grant and how they’re making their community better.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ministers Visit Seniors Communities to Promote 2019 Budget

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Fill our CMA's election survey and let us know what's important to you.

Budget makes important strides to support Canadians, but greater commitment from Federal government needed to improve health, especially for seniors.

As of 2017, there were over seven million grandparents in Canada, aged 45 years and older. Two years later, that group is continuing to grow and evolve.

According to a report released by Statistics Canada...

New report highlights shortfalls in current tax credits and identifies new solutions to better support seniors and caregivers

She talked to us about the lessons she learned caring for her dying husband and the health care challenges facing rural seniors.

Dr. Claire Liddy discusses the eConsult model and how it helps patients.

Roughly half a million Canadians are currently living with dementia; by 2031, the Alzheimer Society of Canada expects that number to double.

A new letter writing campaign.

Quebec is the first province to appoint a minister responsible for caregivers.

The ability for seniors to age in place may have more to do with “place” than “aging.”

This year we’re Alzheimer’s awareness month is fighting social stigma.

Our hospitals were designed as acute care institutions, and not much about their focus has changed in the six decades since Canada’s health care system took shape.

CMA Patient Voice – a new patient liaison group that will bring insights from patients and their families to the CMA’s work.

Throughout November, we asked for your feedback on issues related to fall prevention to better understand where our readers were coming from. Here are the results!

Thanks to a Healthy Canadians Grant, a community group in rural St. Ann’s Bay, Nova Scotia, is introducing an innovative program targeting isolated seniors in the community.

The significant increase in the population of seniors means it is more important than ever to make adaptations to physical environments and transportation so that they are accessible to people with differing levels of independence and who use mobility aids such as walkers, wheelchairs, scooters and canes.

Thanks to a Healthy Canadians Grant, Pilgrims Hospice in Edmonton, Alberta, is expanding their popular Adult Respite Day Program with a new initiative focused on providing care for seniors suffering from dementia.

Alzheimer’s disease and dementia rob those affected of their most precious possession — their memories. A new project funded in part by a Healthy Canadians Grant aims to improve memory recall in seniors living with these conditions by allowing them to virtually visit familiar places from their past.

Supporting caregivers and the vital role they play in home care across Canada was the focus of a conference held recently in Toronto by the Canadian Home Care Association and its affiliate Carers Canada.

Our contributing editor for Fall Prevention Month, Dr. Eoghan O’Shea, attended a long-term care conference on behalf of the CMA from Nov. 14 to 16; he heard presentations relating to the intersection between the different facets of long-term care and fall prevention.

Canadian Association on Gerontology 2018 — Making It Matter: Mobilizing Aging Research, Practice & Policy

This list of fall prevention resources was compiled by Dr. Eoghan O’Shea as part of his collaboration with Demand a Plan for Fall Prevention Month

Many things can contribute to a person’s risk of falling. But what are some of the steps we can take to reduce those risks?

Take a look at this infographic to learn common causes of falls, and some easy things you can do to reduce your risk!

Fall prevention awareness is essential for anyone living with frailty – and those who assist and care for them.

Many people might not consider the occasional fall to come with too many risks,but for seniors, the consequences can be serious.

Patients and caregivers can ask their doctor, nurse or pharmacist for a medication review. Use the 5 Questions to Ask About Your Medications to guide your conversation.

The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) and its’ campaign Demand a Plan are proud to participate in Canadian Patient Safety Week 2018, taking place from October 29th to November 2nd.

Many seniors in our communities are isolated and don’t have access to nutritious foods.

For many Canadians, a bout of the flu is an inconvenience; perhaps even representing some downtime to be pampered by a partner and binge on Netflix for a day or two. But for Canada’s 5.9 million seniors, influenza can pose a serious health threat.

Imagine walking around the world without ever leaving your hometown.

For many people, animals are an important part of their lives. For seniors, especially those who are socially isolated or living in nursing homes, hospitals or retirement residences, animals can provide comfort and companionship, reduce stress and promote a sense of joy and well-being.

More and more women are facing the realities of aging alone, but this doesn’t have to be a negative thing.

Enter our Seniors Day contest!

Being an informal caregiver requires devotion and involves a great deal of sacrifice and stress. More often than not, the brunt of that responsibility, sacrifice and stress falls to women.

Hearing loss is one of the most prevalent chronic conditions affecting Canadians over the age of 65, and the number of older Canadians with hearing loss is growing fast.

The reality is that many eye diseases have no symptoms and a verdict of 20/20 vision doesn’t necessarily mean all is well.

In Surrey, British Columbia, plans are underway to build a long-term care home that provides services for members of the “aging and diverse multicultural population” who are unable to care for themselves.

In Toronto, an elderly widow decided it might be a good idea to get a roommate; so, she opened her doors to young strangers — mostly international students.

Walk a mile in Ben's shoes and see the importance of age-friendly cities.

Launched in 2015, the RISE campaign exists to help Canadians of all ages and in all regions gain a greater awareness of the impact of loneliness and isolation on older citizens.

Alongside more than 700 physicians and health stakeholders, the patient group took part in two days of presentations and panels related to this year’s theme: innovation in health care.

Transportation presents seniors and their caregivers with more than a few challenges

Alzheimer’s disease is a devastating, yet enigmatic illness that affects hundreds of thousands of Canadians and even more people worldwide. There is no cure, no way to halt its attack on the brain, and very little that can be done to predict who might acquire the disease and why.

A livestream will be available on the Health Summit website starting at 7 am CDT (local Winnipeg time) on Monday, August 20 so you can watch the sessions in real time!

As a student in the MD/Phd program at the University of British Columbia, where he is pursuing a medical degree and has completed his PhD in engineering, Edgcumbe has helped develop many new medical technologies: an augmented-reality display of ultrasound images to help surgeons better “see” patients’ organs, and the pico lantern, a device that maps and projects a patient’s tumor(s) and blood vessels – in 3D – onto their body during surgery.

On July 18, 2018, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named Hamilton West MP Filomena Tassi as Canada’s new Minister of Seniors. The portfolio dedicated to seniors that Tassi is in charge of is a new, welcome addition to cabinet for long-time seniors’ advocates – including the CMA and Demand a Plan.

After a year in the Netherlands, working as “Innovation Sherpa in Chief” at the REShape Health Innovation Centre, Zayna Khayat returned to Canada in January with a fresh perspective on what that future could look like.

Imagine being trapped. Reliving your darkest moments, over and over. Being isolated. No one to talk to, to break the cycle of darkness. For most of us, it’s a terrifying thought. But for many of the hundreds of thousands of seniors living with dementia, this is the reality.

In October 2017, the Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre (Perley Rideau), together with The Ottawa Hospital (TOH) and the Champlain Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), launched a pilot project to assist elderly patients who no longer require hospital care but are not yet well enough to return home.

The federal government has created a new cabinet post for seniors, fulfilling one of the key recommendations in the CMA’s seniors care campaign.

On July 24, CMA President Dr. Laurent Marcoux was in New York City to support the creation a new UN convention on the rights of older persons and to advocate for Canada to champion its adoption.

On June 20, 2018, the federal government responded to a report by the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (the HUMA Committee) entitled Advancing Inclusion and Quality of Life for Seniors in which they addressed six of the HUMA Committee’s recommendations in the report related to income security, housing, home care, informal caregivers, age-friendly communities and a national seniors care strategy.

Your support led to action!

As life expectancies are much longer now and when people retire they often have several decades of life ahead of them.

Your life shouldn’t stop when you become a senior, or when you retire; you should be able to remain actively and meaningfully engaged with the world.

Many Canadians age into disability, meaning that they will acquire conditions and limitations as they grow old. But what of seniors who age with a disability?

Silver Alert operates in a similar way to the AMBER Alert system for missing children but instead broadcasts alerts for missing adults who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia.

The Canadian Frailty Network (CFN) is Canada’s leading network for seniors living with frailty. But the CFN takes great care to make it clear that frailty and age are not interchangeable terms, discussing how complex the issue is and how proactive efforts can help in caring for the frail population.

On Friday, June 8, the CMA took part in the 7th annual Age Well Solutions conference in Ottawa, along with 31 exhibitors.

LGBT seniors say going into residential care can feel like going back in the closet. What are ways to address concerns about being out and open in a residential care setting?

On June 4, 2018, the Quebec government released its second five-year action plan to support active aging in the province.

Former CMA president Dr. Chris Simpson publishes article on the wait time problem in Canadian health care; stresses the effect on seniors.

Pharmacare is once again on the national agenda, with the parliamentary health committee issuing its report on the topic, and the Liberal government launching a federal advisory council on a national pharmacare plan.

The Duma family and Dr. Cargill are devoted advocates, raising awareness about necessary access to palliative care for so many patients who cannot wait three months.

Are you interested in being a part of a vibrant patient group?

A new Alberta law titled The Resident and Family Councils Act, in effect as of Apr. 1, 2018, will give seniors living in long-term care and licensed supportive living facilities the right to establish self-governing resident and family councils.

Quebec is addressing the rise in senior abuse with new legislation that streamlines the process for complainants, with one consolidated committee handling complaints to ensure a quicker and more effective response.

Healthy Canadians Grants to support seniors health in its first year.

Quebec government has tightened regulations in residences that house elderly people with significant loss of autonomy, while softening standards in institutions for more autonomous people.

When home care providers are not available, who can patients turn to? In Prince Edward Island, paramedics are helping to fill in the gaps.

A new white paper, Why Canada Needs to Better Care for Its Working Caregivers, produced by the National Institute of Ageing (NIA) at Ryerson University, examines the financial, social and personal health burdens borne by caregivers in Canada.

The Canadian Medical Association’s (CMA’s) newest patient engagement initiative, the CMA Patient Voice aims to further enhance our ability to advocate for a healthy population and a vibrant profession.

On Mar. 29, 2018, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (the HUMA Committee) presented a report titled Advancing Inclusion and Quality of Life for Seniors in the House of Commons.

On Feb. 23, 2018, the face of the National Seniors Council was renewed with the appointment of a new chair and four new members.

Ontario’s Prescott and Russell area is already set to expand their paramedic home care program in July 2018.

In 2017, The Commonwealth Fund published an international report on seniors health care across 11 developed countries.

Elderly seniors in Quebec’s long-term care (LTC) facilities are growing in number but receiving less care than in the past because of staff shortages caused, in part, by the difficulty in recruiting personnel.

A unique health care project in the province of Quebec, where nurses pay daily visits to sick seniors in their homes, is having clear results: two out of every three patients who have participated in the project have been able to avoid unnecessary hospital emergency admissions.