Desmond (Des) O'Neill
Academic geriatrician with >500 publications, Prof O'Neill is also a writer/commentator in national media, has received national and international awards for advocacy & research, Twitter @Age_Matters
Location Trinity College Dublin/Tallaght Hospital Dublin
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Thanks!
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The group with the best eyesight and reaction time are the 17-25 year-olds - the group with the highest reaction times!
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End-of-life costs actually lower for older people..
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Thanks!
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A pity it wasn't recorded: it was wonderful!
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Thanks!
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Thanks!
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Thanks!
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Desmond (Des) O'Neill replied to Mike R
The examples metaphors for a wider range of aspects of the longevity dividend
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A deeper area, and an interesting aspect of the 'assisted suicide' debate is that wiser older people are less likely to request it. Also a worrying concept of buying into an artificial dichotomy of troubling suicide (younger people) and 'acceptable' suicide (age and disability) that seems inherently prejudiced against age and disability...
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For a short video, some compromises need to be made! In lectures, usually include a range across cultures and gender..
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Reference made elsewhere of older workers and older drivers, among others, as the everyday translation of the longevity dividend - at a deeper level, the longer period of time we have with our loved ones!
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Thanks!
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For a short video, some compromises need to be made! In lectures, usually include a range across cultures and gender..
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Actually, most were extremely hard-working, and with regard to 'simple' art, see http://www.thamesandhudson.com/Why_Your_Five_Year_Old_Could_Not_Have_Done_That/9780500290477
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Thanks!
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For a short video, some compromises need to be made! In lectures, usually include a range across cultures and gender..
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Mark Agronin and Stephen Post's books (referenced above) give a different insight on ageing with disability
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For a short video, some compromises need to be made! In lectures, usually include a range across cultures and gender.. On Margaret Thatcher, worth checking out critical comment on the movie The Iron Lady http://www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.e378
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De gustibus non est disputandum..
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For a short video, some compromises need to be made! In lectures, usually include a range across cultures and gender..
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Consistent literature showing that ageing adds little to health costs, but technology for the middle-aged and younger old does
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For a short video, some compromises need to be made! In lectures, usually include a range across cultures and gender..
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For a short video, some compromises need to be made! In lectures, usually include a range across cultures and gender..
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For a short video, some compromises need to be made! In lectures, usually include a range across cultures and gender..
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For a short video, some compromises need to be made! In lectures, usually include a range across cultures and gender..
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Even gerontologists can be ageist! See reference to Ignatz Nascher in the Lancet 'Art of the Longevity Dividend'
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For a short video, some compromises need to be made! In lectures, usually include a range across cultures and gender.. Also mention late starters from Grandma Moses through Janacek to Albers
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Thanks!
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For a short video, some compromises need to be made! In lectures, usually include a range across cultures and gender..
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For a short video, some compromises need to be made! In lectures, usually include a range across cultures and gender..
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As above
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Ageism..
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De gustibus non est disputandum..
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As above!
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Workplaces often ignorant of, and fail to nurture, the longevity dividend http://www.cardi.ie/userfiles/Ageing%20Work%20%20The%20Demographic%20Dividend%281%29.pdf
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Nothing more challenging than the iconography of older people!
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As above!
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Desmond (Des) O'Neill replied to Lyn Adams
As above re women and the longevity dividend, and as for great and 'simple' art, worth checking out http://www.thamesandhudson.com/Why_Your_Five_Year_Old_Could_Not_Have_Done_That/9780500290477
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As above!
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Desmond (Des) O'Neill replied to carol cox
Thanks!
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As above!
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Josef Albers changed from architecture to art in his 60's..
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We need imaginative solutions for those constrained by disability..
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As above, mea culpa - and Maria Montessori as well!
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Good to have dissent! Not that age equates with excellence, but longevity dividend under-recognized and under-valued
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Desmond (Des) O'Neill replied to Jan Elci
Living longer in the UK associated with less dementia and severe disability.. http://www.alzforum.org/news/research-news/falling-dementia-rates-us-and-europe-sharpen-focus-lifestyle
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Do look further in your search for geriatricians in SF - great geriatricians at UCSF!
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Hi, have given more everyday examples above which the exemplars illuminate
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As a working geriatrician, I engage with dementia and disability every day: one of my key guiding principles is not to make the experience (and the impetus for better services) worse by casting the experience in dismal terms - I recommend Mark Agronin's How We Age Now http://www.marcagronin.com/about-book/ and Stephen Post's The Moral Challenge of Alzheimer...
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Thanks!
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Thanks!
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Sounds like you are exemplifying the longevity dividend, which occurs alongside age-related loss..
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Ageing in different cultures and times not as straightforward as the popular conception would have it: Rohinton Mistry's Family Matters neatly challenges the extended family in India, and Pat Thane's Long History of Old Age also a myth-buster http://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/dec/10/featuresreviews.guardianreview6
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See above, and in total agreement!
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..but worth persisting!
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Fair point, and exemplary women added above - the list is potentially endless!
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Hi, good point, space an issue, poets and authors mentioned here http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2010/12/07/des-oneill-so-when-do-you-become-old/ and elsewhere!
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All good replies, to which (on International Women's Day) one can add sculptor Louise Bourgeois, politician Golda Meir, actor Maggie Smith, and countless others!
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Hopefully those of you on the course will spread the good news!
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Right up to the age of stopping driving: and getting progressively safer with each new cohort!
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These are metaphors for all the other positivities, often in the face of disabilities, as evidenced in everyday life by older drivers and older workers - children in car accidents where a grandparent is the driver have a much reduced injury risk compared to when the driver is a parent!
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Our challenge as gerontologists and geriatricians is to try to ensure that life with dementia is as fulfilling as it can be through better knowledge, attitudes and skills
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I think the key point from our perspective is that we do not become age-defying..
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Thanks - very much the life-span approach - Birdman a great movie about ageing in one's 50's
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Thanks!
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Thanks: the point is that these examples act as potent metaphors for all the other aspects of the longevity dividend, as pointed out by you, and serve as a counter-cultural riposte to the often negative discourse of ageing
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Thanks: alternative link is http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19907137 for the profile of pedestrian accidents among older people: can only provide abstracts due to copyright
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Desmond (Des) O'Neill made a comment
Nice popular science piece on resilience from early ages from the New Yorker http://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/the-secret-formula-for-resilience
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Interesting to know how to interpret, as only a tiny minority of pedestrian accidents involving older people relate to traffic crossings http://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/258052: a broader perspective on older people in traffic required, as per http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214140515006921
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Desmond (Des) O'Neill made a comment
For this week, you might think about whether we should be considering optimal ageing (which incorporates our existential vulnerability) or successful ageing (which implies that some people will have failed in their ageing: only 10–15% of us will die without a significant period of disability) - see the excellent "I may be Frail but I Ain't No Failure")...
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Desmond (Des) O'Neill made a comment
Nice overview on exercise and older people at http://pmj.bmj.com/content/90/1059/26.full
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Good news! Dementia in decline, see http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1504327
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Desmond (Des) O'Neill made a comment
Maslow enlarged the basic hierarchy of needs to include aesthetics and transcendence (1970), see http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html - these are relevant to creativity and aesthetic support in later life which will be covered in week 5..
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Desmond (Des) O'Neill made a comment
Fascinating subject, and although it may not prolong lifespan (see http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2815%2901222-2/abstract) happiness is an important good in its own right
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Desmond (Des) O'Neill made a comment
Heartening to see such positive feedback overall! For the week-end, consider a movie with an ageing theme http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/vintage-viewing-cinema-s-take-on-getting-old-1.599203 and http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/an-older-wiser-bond-may-help-us-to-reject-ageism-1.953470
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Desmond (Des) O'Neill made a comment
Great to see such enthusiasm and input! You may enjoy Atul Gawande's 2007 reflection on ageing http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/04/30/the-way-we-age-now
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Desmond (Des) O'Neill made a comment
For those interested in older workers (and how ageism among employers is so short-sighted!) see http://www.cardi.ie/userfiles/Ageing%20Work%20%20The%20Demographic%20Dividend%281%29.pdf
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Desmond (Des) O'Neill made a comment
Good to see so many comments! A key element is to embrace ageing and being old/older - see http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/health-family/second-opinion-our-ageing-selves-can-become-our-truest-selves-with-the-right-attitudes-1.1997977 When people talk about youthfulness, are they really talking about vitality? See also the great Crazy Age...
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Desmond (Des) O'Neill made a comment
Great to see such interest in the course and so many personal reflections! You may be interested in reading about the extent of ageism in journalistic and political circles in this BMJ article on ageism in the Economist http://www.bmj.com/content/339/bmj.b4914.long
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Thanks: a little cautious about the idea of MH 'humanizing' medicine. Most subscribe to Engel's biopsychosocial model of healthcare, however imperfectly executed in practice, MH really more about understanding and meaning. One study of aesthetics among laboratory students showed that more aesthetic activity was particularly related to higher scores on the...
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Desmond (Des) O'Neill made a comment
Geriatrician and cultural gerontologist: nice intro!
