Impact of climate change on the most vulnerable of older populations - 20th Annual John K. Friesen Conference - Growing Old in a Changing Climate: Exploring the Interface Between Population Aging and Global Warming (2011)

This video clip comprises the three presentations of Panel Session 1, “Defining the Issues: Climate Science, Health and Gerontological Perspectives” held at the 20th Annual John K. Friesen Conference, "Growing Old in a Changing Climate: Exploring the Interface Between Population Aging and Global Warming," MAY 25-26, 2011, Vancouver, BC. Dr. George Tokesky " Impact of climate change on the most vulnerable of older populations" - As the population ages, changes in the world’s climate and an increase in weather-related events will affect more and more older persons. Within the aging population, the most vulnerable group is the frail elderly that require some level of care and support to remain in the community. This presentation will focus on what happens when a disaster impacts the frail elderly and the health care system designed to care for them. This presentation looks at various health care models and the challenges associated with providing care to the frailest of older persons before, during and after a major disaster. Finally, this presentation will discuss the lessons learned from nine major disasters that led to changes to the way health care is provided to frail elders during a catastrophic event. We also gratefully acknowledge a grant from the SFU Library's Scholarly Digitization Fund for videography and post-production editing. See webpage for more information on the 20th Annual John K. Friesen Conference: http://www.sfu.ca/grc/friesen/friesen2011/