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Some related articles : Social and Health-Care Policy for the Elderly in Denmark The Danish Association of Senior Citizens: policies and projects
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Age Forum Annual Report 1999-2000
External initiatives Proposals to authorities Since the publication of this study, the Ministry of Health and the National Board of Health have signalled to the counties, in unequivocal and repeated declarations, that it is unacceptable for public health authorities to use age as a criterion for offering or not offering treatment. At the same time, a recommendation was made to the counties to establish apoplexy sections at all Danish hospitals. The National Board of Health conducted another study in 1998, showing that most counties had established or were planning to establish apoplexy sections. However, no examinations have yet been made to determine whether increased efforts in this area have resulted in older people being admitted to the new apoplexy sections on an equal footing with younger people. However, recent studies conducted by HjerneSagen, the Danish Society for Persons Suffering from Apoplexy and Aphasia, suggest that the trend is towards equal treatment. AgeForum asked the Ministry of Health to make additional studies, since follow-up on the efforts already made by the Ministry and the National Board of Health may serve as a model for how measures to prevent discrimination against older people can be organised and also be successful. Publications In 1999, the Council released the following information booklets and publications, distributed free of charge to local authorities, counties, educational establishments for staff in the health and social services sectors, senior citizens councils and organisations for the elderly, etc.: AgeForum - Annual report 1998 To inform authorities and organisations outside Denmark about some aspects of Danish aging policy, the 1998 annual report, like previous reports, was translated into English. The annual report contains brief summaries of the discussions made at the Council’s meetings as well as descriptions of the information booklets published by the Council during the period of review. The annual report also includes excerpts from the opening speech made by WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland at the inauguration of the UN’s International Year of Older Persons as well as extracts of a factsheet released by WHO on that occasion. This factsheet lists a number of key figures concerning the rapidly increasing population of older people all over the world and the concomitant challenges in the area of health services. Bereavement & care – inspiration for cooperation on helping the bereaved When people die, the closest relatives have to consider a number of practicalities within a very short span of time. Some surviving relatives find this task overwhelming or even impossible, and contact with the numerous authorities is not always smooth. Therefore, the Council decided to study how authorities such as probate courts, local authorities, hospitals and churches are handling contact with surviving relatives and also how these authorities cooperate. This booklet also includes experience and information that may foster local cooperation in ensuring continuity in the process, thus giving surviving relatives greater peace of mind. Housing for the third age This leaflet, a follow-up to the information booklet Older people & housing released in December 1998, encourages its readers to consider housing as the focal point of older people’s lives. It also contains information about where to get help in this respect. Older people & language – the role of language in the cultural relay race of generations Language is one vehicle for passing on traditions and culture, and not least older people contribute, through their language, to the continuity and nuances of society. For this reason, contact with older people can help give many children and young people a solid foothold in their lives and contribute to developing their tolerance and respect for others. With the aid of three authors, this booklet suggests a variety of approaches to the role of language in the interrelation between generations. In his contribution, full professor Jørn Lund emphasises in particular how important the resources of older people are to younger people – and not least to children. Folklorist Anne Leonora Blaakilde provides examples of how language can create both barriers and understanding between generations. Associate professor Elisabeth Hansen, Department for Early Childhood Education at the Royal Danish School of Educational Studies, suggests that many people mistakenly believe that a child’s language develops by itself. Language needs to be taught, and this is not the sole responsibility of schools and institutions. Therefore, the booklet contains proposals for allowing older people to contribute actively to the development of children’s linguistic and reading skills, for example by training in writing letters and by collaborating with children to use the wealth of possibilities offered at libraries. The information booklet is a follow-up to the booklet Building bridges between generations, which was published in 1997 to encourage the strengthening of bonds between children, younger people and older people. Older people & language was published to provide inspiration for concrete activities in 1999, which was the year declared by the UN as the International Year of Older Persons under this banner: Towards a society for all ages. Older people & dementia, depression and suicide This booklet was published as the first of three in a series on older people affected by illness. The following two booklets in this series describe physical and sensory diseases. Susceptibility to illness increases with age, and some diseases also affect older people more often than younger people. At the same time, a number of diseases show different patterns in older people than they do in younger people. As a result, serious diseases and diseases that can be treated and cured may be overlooked or misinterpreted in older people, which may have fatal consequences. Prejudice and myth about certain diseases and conditions also mean that a number of older people are not offered the diagnostics and treatment they require. The purpose of this series of booklets is therefore to help social and health staff as well as relatives to become better observers on the basis of more concrete knowledge about such diseases and conditions. For example, dementia is still considered by some to be a natural part of the aging process, which may help explain why only about 10% of all people suffering from dementia (who represent 5-10% of all people over the age of 65 and at least 30% of all people over the age of 80) are diagnosed and thus can be said to receive the required treatment. Another common belief is that depression, affecting about 15% of all people older than 65, and suicide among older people, accounting for one fourth of all cases of suicide, are – if not natural, then understandable – reactions to the fact that life is drawing to a close. As with all other age groups, however, such conditions in older people can be alleviated or cured, as long as their existence is accepted. Older people & metabolic disorders, apoplexy, aphasia & osteoporosis The second information booklet in this series deals with metabolic disorders, apoplexy, aphasia and osteoporosis as well as the prevention of falls. Metabolic disorders are diseases that may be overlooked in older people. Some reasons may be that their courses can be atypical, that they may be confused with other diseases or that they may be regarded as “normal age-related changes”, with the result that the patient fails to receive proper examination and treatment. In the case of apoplexy, the fact is that age, in itself, today affects neither treatment results nor any subsequent rehabilitation effect. Yet it has been demonstrated that older people affected by apoplexy fail to receive the same offers for treatment as younger people. Osteoporosis augments the risk of fracture and thus also the risk of later reduced mobility. Today, this disease is frequently observed in women, but also men are increasingly affected. Like apoplexy, osteoporosis is purportedly a life-style disease that can be partly prevented through individual action such as physical exercise, which also reduces the risk of falls. Aphasia is the partial or total loss of a person’s ability to communicate with others. By following simple advice on conversation techniques, relatives and other parties can help make life more comfortable for people affected by aphasia. Denmark’s future senior citizens The report aims at finding out what senior life will be like for the rebellious young people of the 1960s, also known as the ‘68 generation, and how this generation will influence society as a whole. Presumably, organising offers to this very large group will become a public matter of far-reaching political, economic and commercial interest during the next ten years. The current welfare debate on the future tasks to be performed by the public sector partly springs from the rising number of older people. Also, novel solutions will undoubtedly be required to meet demands for co-determination and for individual consideration when initiatives are to be planned for the multifarious interests, wishes and needs of this generation. These questions form some of the basis for the project entitled Denmark’s future senior citizens. The report is the product of interviews conducted with one hundred Danish and foreign persons having special knowledge of this generation’s self-perception, personal finances, demands for co-determination and organisation of society, etc. Hence, the report is based on statements made by a wide spectrum of knowledgeable persons with an array of approaches. In addition, it also puts forward future scenarios, which recount the stories that twenty-five selected key persons found important to tell about the future generation of older people. The report, published in October 1999 by AgeForum in collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers, is intended as a contribution to the development of services provided to older people and as an inspiration to politicians, planners, decision-makers, senior citizens councils, organisations for the elderly and other parties desiring information about the future generation of older people. Finally, the report is also intended as a contribution to the welfare debate, focusing on issues like the coming generation of older people. Conferences, debate, etc. To mark the UN’s Year of Older Persons, the Council was a co-organiser of a full-day symposium entitled Being old after 2000 – from research to senior policy held on 5 November 1999. Contributions made at this symposium centred on three general themes: Biology and aging, physical functional capacity and the social aspects of aging. The contributors touched on a wide range of topics such as aging theories, recent results of muscular strength training and the significance of varying offers for training and exercise, methods for ensuring the quality of nursing services provided to older people, the need for developing the quality and diversification of local-service and care offers as well as the need for developing labour-market offers to older people. One intention was to build a bridge of understanding between theoretical research on aging and the practical consequences of recent knowledge for professionals in the social and health sectors as well as for political and administrative organisers of preventive action and care for older people. A report was published in April 2000, containing summaries of the contributions made at the symposium. Apart from the publications and conferences mentioned above, the chairman participated, on behalf of AgeForum, as a speaker and conference manager, etc., in a large number of conferences and meetings all over Denmark where the conditions, wishes and needs of the older generation served as themes. On behalf of the Council, the chairman also participated in the debate on older people’s conditions through contributions in the daily newspapers and in professional journals. Several of AgeForum’s other members also represented the Council as speakers at events with and on older people. Support for research project at the University of Southern Denmark The Institute of Sports and Clinical Biomechanics at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense has recently developed a research programme to determine the effects of aging on the functional capacity of older people. Aimed at explaining the connection between exercise and the ability to meet the motor requirements of everyday life and providing methods to maintain this ability as long as possible, this research programme is likely to yield considerable knowledge and documentation to boost prevention efforts for older people. For these reasons, AgeForum supported the launch of a subproject to this research programme. The purpose of this subproject was to explain gender differences in explosive muscular strength, that is, the ability of muscles to exert substantial strength during a short period of time. This ability is required for a person to perform everyday functions such as getting up from a chair or climbing a set of stairs. The results of this project show that men and women possess the same ability to develop explosive muscular strength for movements involving the expansion of muscles, while the ability to contract muscles is substantially lower in women. As a result of this difference, women find that rapidly slowing down a movement is more difficult, for example to prevent a fall, which may help explain why women fall more often than men. Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging
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