Aging & Social Change: Tenth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

Supporting older adults to remain in their own homes and communities for as long as desired is currently considered best practice in terms of providing patient-centered care for health care practitioners. To provide this support, community programs that offer services such as personal support workers, nursing, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, grocery service delivery and transportation services have become invaluable to meet a wide range of needs for older adults. The impact of supports promoting aging-in-place go beyond health and wellness to have positive economic impacts, for example, the increasing trend of aging-in-place has been suggested to help offset the demand for institutional care in the future. However, the impacts of climate change represent a threat to the future of aging-in-place and the increasing prevalence of natural disasters is one such example. Floods are one of the most common natural disasters and are expected to occur more frequently, with greater intensity, and last for longer duration in coming decades. Flooding will negatively impact aging-in-place both directly, via health effects through increasing stress levels and exposure to contaminated drinking water and other toxins, as well as indirectly, through altering the physical built environment and impacting access to community services. The impact of flooding on aging-in-place will be discussed in the context of the recent Ottawa and Gatineau spring floods. Understanding how climate change will impact aging-in-place through the example of flooding, represents a first step towards promoting preparedness for future changes related to aging-in-place.