The Free Academy: Iva Holmerová on Myths About Aging
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: January 23, 2025, 19:00 – 21:00
At meetings of various kinds we often wish each other health and happiness. If we have them, we will live to a riper age. If most people in society have them, then society will grow old. However, we see this as a problem. We worry whether there will be enough money for pensions, and whether we should build more institutions for the elderly. We talk about “them” but it concerns us – us now, or us in the near or distant future. Why do we identify old age only with need and lack of self-sufficiency? Why do we not see the contribution older people make to society? What is a healthy old age, and why is the current Decade of Healthy Ageing scarcely talked about? What constitutes a productive old age? These and other questions related to the health and non-health of old age will be the subject of this talk.
Associate professor Iva Holmerová is a physician specializing in geriatrics, public health and long-term care medicine. She is co-founder of the Gerontology Centre in Prague 8, the Czech Alzheimer’s Society and the Centre for Longevity and Long-Term Care Studies at Charles University. Recently she was the president of Alzheimer Europe and the Czech Gerontological and Geriatric Society. She is interested in elderly care, long-term care and focuses in particular on psychosocial interventions and care for people with dementia. At present she also heads the Long-Term Care Medicine Department at the Institute for Continuing Education of Healthcare Professionals.