Living Longer but Living Well

Karen Talbott
President, Visiting Nurse Service and Affiliates

I’ve passionately worked most of my career to get appropriate services and products to older adults.

One of the first people to raise awareness of this issue was Ken Dychtwald. He was interviewed for a great article in May’s Hospitals and Health Networks magazine (www.hhnmag.com).

He talks about how the auto industry doesn’t think about the 70-year-old driver, how the pharmaceutical industry focuses on beauty but not arthritis and how the food industry targets the taste buds of the young. Even the health care industry is not necessarily ready for the golden agers.

I agree with Dychtwald when he says that we want to make sure we’ve redirected our science, service skills and competencies to deal with new challenges of aging.

The goal for us shouldn’t be just living long lives, but living ones that are healthful, vital and productive and ones in which our dreams can come true. It doesn’t get any better than that, right?

Karen Talbott is one of the contributing writers for our Aging Smart Web site. Read more at www.WesternReservePublicMedia.org/agingsmart/blogs.htm.