Healthy aging on the Internet

It is by now a cliché to suggest that the Internet will revolutionize how we gain access to information about healthy aging. But the sheer number of websites is, by itself, bewildering and often frustrating. Access to information is becoming easy — access to reliable, trustworthy information is another matter.

The Baycrest Report on Healthy Aging is one place where you can turn for suggestions and recommendations about useful and responsible websites. We also welcome your suggestions and comments about websites that you have found useful.

You might begin your search at Fifty-Plus.Net (www.fifty-plus.net), the online home of CARP, Canada’s Association For the Fifty-Plus, and with the Baycrest website (www.baycrest.org). These two organizations have begun to work more closely together (the Baycrest Report is one specific result of this collaboration, in fact) and new material is being added to these sites frequently. One feature of the Baycrest site that you might wish to consult is Top 10 memory tips, a concise and useful set of suggestions for hping us maintain our memory skills.

A useful new Internet service worth investigating — and one which claims it can help you distinguish whether a website is “selling a health solution or snake oil” is the Canadian Health Network (www.canadian-health-network.ca). By selecting “Seniors” under the heading “Select a Group” you will then be able to access information on a wealth of Key Resources, such as the “Senior’s guide to federal programs and services”.

Another widely used and respected health site on the web is WebMD (www.webmd.com). Click on the Consumer site. The aging section of the CNN Health site (www.cnn.com/HEALTH/aging) offers a wealth of information, but like many such sites is rather difficult to wade through.

If you would like access to some professional resources, such as research journals or library sites, or if you would like to access some resources from the U.S., take a look at the University of Georgia’s Gerontology Centre website (http://www.geron.uga.edu)

Naturally, making the most of these sites requires some skill at Net Surfing, and unfortunately, many of them are not “senior friendly”. If you would like to learn more about how we seniors can improve our computer skills, take a look at www.mbnet.mb.ca/scip. This is the home page of the Seniors Computer Information Program, an innovative and exciting effort that you will be reading more about in subsequent issues of The Baycrest Report on Healthy Aging.

Scotiabank is committed to helping provide Canadians the tools they need to enjoy health and well-being as they age. We are proud to fund this innovative report. Congratulations to Baycrest on your vision and leadership.