The Age of Disruption Tour has come to the Maritimes in the form of Dr. Bill Thomas whose ideas about how to age well are unconventional.
Dr. Thomas says the way we tend to treat people who are aging needs to change. He maintains older adults should not be treated like they’re infants and they should remain engaged and interested in what’s happening in the world around them.
Dr. Thomas believes in the policy of keeping the elderly in their own homes for as long as possible and claims we’re near the end of the era of institutionalising the elderly. He, at one time, worked as a medical director at a nursing home in upstate New York and described it as pretty depressing with old people parked in wheelchairs like frogs on a log, bored stiff with nothing to do which causes their minds to deteriorate.
When this nursing home brought in pets and plants, the residents started taking care of them, including dogs and cats, which restored their interest in life. They began taking better care of themselves and interacting with others. He points out prescription drug use fell by 50 per cent especially for drugs to reduce anxiety and agitation.
