Life-long Healthy Aging

What do we mean by the “promise of life-long healthy aging?”

Health Canada defines healthy aging as a lifelong process of optimizing opportunities for improving and preserving health and physical, social and mental wellness, independence, quality of life and enhancing successful life-course transition.

The three central determinants of life-long healthy aging are generally considered to be:

• Low risk of disease and disease-related disability 
• High mental and physical functioning 
• Active engagement with life

However experts agree that our ability to age in good health throughout our lives is also affected by other factors including:

• Our economic stability and access to financial resources
• The availability of health & social services 
• Social, behavioral and personal determinants like our individual personalities and ability to form and maintain friendships
• Our  physical environment 
• Our gender 
• And the culture in which we live

Therefore, the work of the St. Joseph’s Care Foundation centers around our belief that life-long healthy aging is in fact about all round physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity. 

We believe that as a society, we must take each one of its dependant factors into consideration and remain dedicated to initiatives that make healthy aging a possibility for all, regardless of age, ability or income.