March 20, 2024
Aging Unbound:
New Frontiers in Ageism and Aging Well
Drew Dyson
CEO, Center for Modern Aging Princeton
Aging Unbound:
New Frontiers in Ageism and Aging Well
Drew Dyson
CEO, Center for Modern Aging Princeton
Minutes of the 23rd Meeting of the 82nd Year
John Cotton, Old Guard president, called the meeting to order and presided. Cynthia Woolston-Moltenfort led the invocation. George Bustin read the minutes of the prior March 13 meeting. The attendance at Springdale Country Club was 120. There were two signed-in guests: Ann Katz (guest of Fred Simon) and Amy Borovoy (guest of Marge D’Amico). Professor Borovoy was accompanied by several students from her class entitled The Quest for Health. John repeated his reminder about considering all the parking options at Springdale (due to limited parking in the club parking lot).
Marge D’Amico introduced the speaker, Dr. Drew Dyson, CEO of the Center for Modern Aging Princeton (CMAP) since 2020. The title of his talk was “Aging Unbound: New Frontiers in Ageism and Aging Well.” Dr. Dyson is a Princeton native and two-time graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, finishing with a Ph.D. in Practical Theology. Over a 25-year career working in an ecclesial setting in the United Methodist Church, Dr. Dyson wrote several books, became a renowned speaker and global church leader.
In his current role at CMAP, Dr. Dyson works with the board and staff to facilitate the mission of CMAP, which is a community non-profit organization whose mission is to help older adults thrive, not just survive. CMAP is the new title for the organization formerly known as the Princeton Senior Resource Center, which has recently added a new building, the Nancy Klath Center for Lifelong Learning on Poor Farm Road in Princeton.
Dr. Dyson began his talk with two complex charts to provide up-to-date data and a framework about aging from a global perspective. The first comprised a UN chart of “super-aged” societies versus non-super-aged, where super-aged is defined as a society or country with twenty percent or more of a population over age 65. The US is expected to be in this category by 2035-2040, moving at a moderate rate, while a country like Japan is already in the super-aging category. Most developed nations are facing similar demographic aging challenges. Overall, UN statistics expect the global percentage of adults over age 65 to increase from 9.4% of the population at present to 17% by 2050.
The second chart came from a McKinsey Health Institute longitudinal study of 90- to 100-year- olds in the Okinawan Centenarian Society. This study determined four dimensions needed for healthy aging, namely physical activity, mental and intellectual engagement, supportive social structures to provide a sense of belonging and a spiritual connection.
Dr. Dyson asked us to throw out words descriptive of positive attributes of an aging society, followed by descriptions of negative aspects. The latter terms represented examples of “ageism,” defined as prejudice or discrimination based on a person’s age. Ageism impacts how society thinks about older people (through stereotypes), how it feels about older people (through prejudice) and how it acts towards older people (through discrimination). He likened the negative impact of ageism as equivalent to racism.
Positive characteristics of an aging society include increased volunteerism, overall societal wisdom and experience, economic contribution from working beyond 65, and a lessened environmental footprint. Negative challenges of an aging society comprise a need for greater levels of care (resulting in a current caregiver shortage), overall rising cost of healthcare in the society (world-wide healthcare cost is 8.6% of GDP and rising), and the challenge of affordable housing for transitional care and at low- and mid-income strata, particularly evident in Princeton.
Dr. Dyson stressed the importance of moderate physical activity to support cognitive development, while also warning of the cost of social isolation, where a person is unengaged in life around them. This factor became particularly evident in 2022, following the pandemic. An organization such as CMAP provides structured volunteerism opportunities to combat isolation, exercise and movement classes to combat fatigue and chronic illness, opportunities to form intergenerational relationships to combat ageism, and many classes through their Evergreen Forum program to combat dementia. An intergenerational volunteer program example is CMAP’s GrandPals and GrandPals PenPals programs.
Dr. Dyson further described CMAP’s use of hearing loop technology throughout their new facility to further combat social isolation, offering affordable dental care access during health fairs, and the presence of a social worker on staff to assist with aging and resource needs, all while stressing “healthy aging.”
Respectively submitted,
Julianne Elward-Berry
Marge D’Amico introduced the speaker, Dr. Drew Dyson, CEO of the Center for Modern Aging Princeton (CMAP) since 2020. The title of his talk was “Aging Unbound: New Frontiers in Ageism and Aging Well.” Dr. Dyson is a Princeton native and two-time graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, finishing with a Ph.D. in Practical Theology. Over a 25-year career working in an ecclesial setting in the United Methodist Church, Dr. Dyson wrote several books, became a renowned speaker and global church leader.
In his current role at CMAP, Dr. Dyson works with the board and staff to facilitate the mission of CMAP, which is a community non-profit organization whose mission is to help older adults thrive, not just survive. CMAP is the new title for the organization formerly known as the Princeton Senior Resource Center, which has recently added a new building, the Nancy Klath Center for Lifelong Learning on Poor Farm Road in Princeton.
Dr. Dyson began his talk with two complex charts to provide up-to-date data and a framework about aging from a global perspective. The first comprised a UN chart of “super-aged” societies versus non-super-aged, where super-aged is defined as a society or country with twenty percent or more of a population over age 65. The US is expected to be in this category by 2035-2040, moving at a moderate rate, while a country like Japan is already in the super-aging category. Most developed nations are facing similar demographic aging challenges. Overall, UN statistics expect the global percentage of adults over age 65 to increase from 9.4% of the population at present to 17% by 2050.
The second chart came from a McKinsey Health Institute longitudinal study of 90- to 100-year- olds in the Okinawan Centenarian Society. This study determined four dimensions needed for healthy aging, namely physical activity, mental and intellectual engagement, supportive social structures to provide a sense of belonging and a spiritual connection.
Dr. Dyson asked us to throw out words descriptive of positive attributes of an aging society, followed by descriptions of negative aspects. The latter terms represented examples of “ageism,” defined as prejudice or discrimination based on a person’s age. Ageism impacts how society thinks about older people (through stereotypes), how it feels about older people (through prejudice) and how it acts towards older people (through discrimination). He likened the negative impact of ageism as equivalent to racism.
Positive characteristics of an aging society include increased volunteerism, overall societal wisdom and experience, economic contribution from working beyond 65, and a lessened environmental footprint. Negative challenges of an aging society comprise a need for greater levels of care (resulting in a current caregiver shortage), overall rising cost of healthcare in the society (world-wide healthcare cost is 8.6% of GDP and rising), and the challenge of affordable housing for transitional care and at low- and mid-income strata, particularly evident in Princeton.
Dr. Dyson stressed the importance of moderate physical activity to support cognitive development, while also warning of the cost of social isolation, where a person is unengaged in life around them. This factor became particularly evident in 2022, following the pandemic. An organization such as CMAP provides structured volunteerism opportunities to combat isolation, exercise and movement classes to combat fatigue and chronic illness, opportunities to form intergenerational relationships to combat ageism, and many classes through their Evergreen Forum program to combat dementia. An intergenerational volunteer program example is CMAP’s GrandPals and GrandPals PenPals programs.
Dr. Dyson further described CMAP’s use of hearing loop technology throughout their new facility to further combat social isolation, offering affordable dental care access during health fairs, and the presence of a social worker on staff to assist with aging and resource needs, all while stressing “healthy aging.”
Respectively submitted,
Julianne Elward-Berry