Dr. Zayna Khayat, Future Strategist at SE Health, joined me for an in-depth discussion around the future of aging and healthcare in Canada. Among many other things, we explored the roles of emerging technologies, the shift to people-powered healthcare, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here is a sneak peek of our conversation:
Q: Let’s actually just talk about some of the core issues associated with aging. What is currently, if you were to summarize, some of the problem statements of what we are about to encounter?
A: I don’t know if “problem statement” and “issue” is the language I would use, to be honest, to frame this. We’re not fluffy and optimistic like, “Oh, it’s an amazing opportunity.” It’s just a major change in the composition of our population as a species that we have really never seen in the history of our species. To have this many people alive over 65, it’s never occurred and that number will only grow. The social norms, the policies, the products, the services have yet to be developed to reflect one in five of us being over 65. It just never happened.
I think what we set out to do in the book we wrote, “The Future of Aging,” is to look at where is that going to be confronted the most. To me, honestly, I see this mostly as opportunity versus risk. There’s some loss for both the incumbents, who are maybe already touching people in this space, but more importantly, for newcomers who now have maybe some new capabilities to bring that the incumbents are too blindsided for.
I think they’re going to bring some very new products, services, and policies. In general, we can get into the book a little bit more, but there’s a whole set of themes around housing and community and where people live and how they live. Again, very few of the models of housing and community we have today make any sense for an aging society.
For more of our discussion, you can watch the whole Fireside Chat with Dr. Zayna Khayat, or listen to the podcast version, below.
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