Episode 75: A Geriatrician’s Guide to Healthy Aging & Supporting Aging Parents

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Alejandra Villalobos, a dedicated geriatrician with over 18 years of experience caring for older adults. From her early work providing home visits to seniors in underserved communities in the Bronx to her current role at Mackenzie Health in Richmond Hill, Dr. Villalobos has spent her career championing dignity, independence, and quality of life for aging adults.

Together, we explore what it really means to age well, from the habits that make the biggest difference in your 40s and 50s to the daily practices that support long-term health and vitality. Dr. Villalobos also shares compassionate, practical advice for families supporting aging parents including how to navigate tough conversations, promote independence safely at home, and recognize early signs of cognitive decline.

Whether you’re thinking about your own healthy aging journey or caring for an older loved one, this conversation offers real-world insights to help every generation age smart.

Resources discussed in this episode: 

Transcript

Heemani (0:00 – 0:03)
What does it really mean to age well?

Manahil (0:03 – 0:09)
And, how can we support our parents, or even ourselves, to stay healthy, independent, and fulfilled later in life?

Heemani (0:09 – 0:19)
In today’s episode of “Healthy Habits, Happy Homes” we’re joined by Dr. Alejandra Villalobos, a community-based geriatrician who helps older adults live well, not just longer.

Manahil (0:20 – 0:29)
She reminds us that aging isn’t a disease, it’s a natural stage of life, and one that can be shaped by how we care for our bodies, our minds, and our relationships.

Heemani (0:29 – 0:38)
We’ll explore what healthy aging really looks like, practical ways to support aging parents, and small lifestyle choices that make a big difference down the road.

Manahil (0:38 – 1:47)
So, whether you’re thinking about your healthy aging or helping your loved ones, this episode is all about shifting our mindset from living longer to living better. So, let’s dive right in.

Manahil (1:00- 1:23)
Okay, so welcome back to episode two of Healthy Habits, Happy Homes.
Today, we have a very special guest, Dr. Alejandra Villalobos, joining us for this special episode. And, before we get into it, we’d like to take a minute or two for Dr. Alejandra to introduce herself. So could you please tell us a little bit about yourself, what you do, and how you got there?

Dr. Alejandra Villalobos (1:24 – 3:47)
Thank you. Thank you for the invitation.
So, I’m a geriatrician. A geriatrician is a specialist focusing in seniors. To be a geriatrician, you need to go through medical school. Well, undergrad in Canada medical school.
I did medical school in Mexico, and in Mexico, six years of medical school. After that, I did my training in Internal Medicine in New York, in the Bronx, three years of internal medicine. At that time, I realized that seniors needed an advocate to negotiate the complexity of medical conditions.
So, I decided to be a geriatrician. In the States, a geriatrician is a specialist, and I did one year in geriatrics. I worked in the Bronx— in the States, as a geriatrician, you can be a primary care provider. So you are the family doctor, “of seniors.” So, you can see healthy seniors, 65, traveling, working, but also you can see seniors who have a lot of medical conditions.

At that time, while my family grew, we decided to move to Ontario, Canada. Because of the certifications from the States, I’m able to validate all my learning and all my curriculum here. Usually at the end, in the Bronx, I was doing also home visits.
So, home visits for really frail seniors who cannot go out. So, when I moved to Richmond Hill, my focus was to see and care for homebound seniors. So, I joined Mackenzie Health, and I have been working there for 13 years.
Really, my passion is really seeing a lot of my patients who are homebound, but slowly I realized that I have to be more proactive caring for healthy seniors to prevent them to being really, really sick and homebound. So, now my area of focus is how to prevent further decline in seniors and how to avoid being homebound and also caring for my homebound patients. So, this is where I’m focusing my practice at the moment.

Manahil (3:47 – 4:26)
Oh, thank you. Thank you for sharing that. And, thanks for defining what a geriatrician is.
I think it’s really cool that you thought that it was important to advocate for older adults, because I definitely agree. I feel like there’s so much emphasis on different parts of the life cycle, especially when you’re young and you’re a kid, but no one really talks that much about aging and what kind of considerations come up when you’re getting older. And, I also like how you mentioned that you’re focusing more on preventative measures now rather than just treating what seniors might be going through, which I think is bringing us to our first question.

Heemani (4:27 – 4:31)
What does aging well or healthy aging mean beyond just living longer?

Dr. Alejandra Villalobos (4:31 – 6:44)
So, I think in one point in our time, in the 2000s, we really think that aging well means more years. We’re really measuring aging as a quantity, but really in our, in all of us, I think we have to reframe it as a quality. So, quality of life, quality of activities. If my life has a purpose, I’m still valuing the society. And, I think really we’re facing a situation that is a lot of ageism in our society, because the new way of seeing ourselves is really healthy, young, and being active. And, we’re not valuing the quality of aging.
So, saying that it means that healthy aging is really a personal experience. So, for me, you will be maybe aging well, able to do the things that I love to do. For other person, you know, I’m aging well, reading my books. So, I don’t have to move. I don’t have to do much of anything, but if I can read my books and talk here and there with my family, I’ll be okay.
So, it’s really a personal, personal way of focusing on healthy aging. But it’s important to realize that we all of us, we have to get up from a chair and we want to cook something so you can eat, and we want to go out for a walk with family members. So, I think always adding to that equation, if you’re able to be somehow independent, it will be a way of putting everything in context, correct? So, you have good quality of life, you’re able to care for yourself and for your needs.
And, then, depending what are your hobbies or your passions, if you can continue those, I think you really have a match of aging well with happiness. And, because nobody has the, you know, the magic formula, but I really want to put those little things around healthy aging: the quality of aging, your independence, and then continue doing things that you love to do.

Manahil (6:45 – 7:27)
Wow, I think that was perfectly said. I really like how you mentioned “quantity over quality,” because if you hear a lot about how the life expectancy is increasing in this new age, but no one really talks about what the complications that are coming up as we’re getting older and living for longer. So yeah, I don’t really hear much about the quality of life when you get to that age.

We do have some listeners who are parents in their 40s or 50s, and you mentioned independence and of course, healthy aging. So, we’re wondering if you can share some habits that you think make the biggest difference in helping you achieve that, that you can start when you’re in your maybe 40s or 50s.

Dr. Alejandra Villalobos (7:27 – 10:15)
I think something important to know is that we start aging after the age of almost 28. So, we get into a peak of our mental well-being and intelligence in the mid 20s. And, after that, then you have a peak of muscle performance in a certain time, but it’s almost close to that time.
And, then, after that, slowly, things are not the same. There are people who can even, you know, if you look back in time, they can see every decade, how things are changing. So, the way I look at life is really maintaining your physical well-being.
So, physical activity is one of the mainstreams, but also putting attention to the quality of your food. And, now even the situation we have with microplastics. So, we will have more information in the future, how microplastics are changing our brain and changing our heart.
At the moment, we don’t know. So, it will be less exposure to microplastic if we can, correct? And, then, less amount of bad habits, like smoking and drugs, even medical marijuana that had an approval in Ontario, we see a major impact in the development of our brain.
Added to all this is this mental well-being, correct? So, if you have a healthy body, but you don’t have your mental well-being, then it’s just really, really difficult to look at the trajectory of healthy aging. So, I think we’re living in a generation, there’s a lot of overlap.
A lot of things are just a constant struggle. So, first, mental well-being, physical activity, your diet. And, the last thing I think we need to add to the equation is look for a community.
Just aging by yourself in the mountains is possible. It’s really people who are passionate, but in general, all human beings, we need a community. So, you see that it’s not a perfect recipe.
It’s pretty complex, but it’s really how we are humans. We have to connect with other people. We have to understand somebody else’s feelings. We have to think about our mental well-being, our body, our physical activity, our proper diet, and how to avoid things that can harm us. So, we put it all together and we try our best how we live. We are living slowly, putting everything in context.

Heemani (10:16 – 11:16)
Yeah, that’s great. Thank you for sharing all these ideas. It seems like it’s a holistic view of living because you’ve mentioned the physical aspects, the mental aspects, social connection, which are all very important.
And, I also find it very interesting that, I guess, you said that we start aging at 28. And, so, we reach our peak in our mid-20s, then it’s kind of downhill from there, which is quite early. And, so, people, I guess, really need to start building these healthy habits early on, not just in your 50s or your 60s. It’s like people in their mid-20s can really start thinking about this now, too, I guess.
In one of the points that you brought up, which was physical activity, I kind of just want to go a little bit deeper into this. So, we know that staying active is important. We always hear this in our day-to-day lives, but would you be able to share some practical tips for busy parents and adults to help stay active?

Dr. Alejandra Villalobos (11:17 – 14:51)
Yeah, so physical activity is extremely important. It is more important really after the age of 50. So, after the age of 50, our muscle does not recover as fast as prior, like previous ages.
So, at the age of 50, a lot of people will be getting more tired carrying like a gallon of milk or walking, they have to really slow down. So, really after the age of 50, we have to pay so much attention on focusing minimum 30 minutes in your physical wellbeing. As a guideline, they say 30 minutes, three times a week, but in general, after the age of 50, you really need to be on top of this.
And, I will really advocate almost every day. You need — you can have one or two days off and off means light walk in the park, but meaning you’re still active. Ideally, for physical activity after the age of 50, you need that focusing on different areas of your body.
So, you need the strength. So, really getting dumbbells and improving your strength in upper and lower body. We have to emphasize balance and this after the age of really 40, we start losing balance because the proprioceptors, so the sensation in your feet and the connection with your brain really changes.
And this is, I will say, normal part of aging that we lose that sensation and that ability to know your body in space. So, we need to focus in balance. So, the combination will be— and then also cardio— so, then, your combination will be doing balanced exercises three times a day while you’re brushing your teeth, correct? Standing on foot, trying to reach out things only with one foot. So, this is something that you can integrate easily in your day to day.
The more challenges that you put yourself in balance, the better you are. So, balance is some kind of routine through the day. And, then, through the week, you can do your 30 minutes of strength training. And then the cardio. Avoid sitting down for a prolonged period of time. And, all of us, we can do that, correct?
So, if you’re just in the couch, just watching TV or looking at the phone, we should avoid — we should have a little timer saying we have to get up. Even getting up and sitting down again, that will be a good thing. So, those times that we’re just sitting down for a long period of time, it will be a problem.
And, also, it’s important that how we’re aging, if we’re caring for somebody who’s a senior, if they get sick, just imagine they get a flu or a cold or anything, and we said, “oh, don’t worry.” Just tuck themselves in bed and everything will be okay.
But, the longer they stay on bed, the more muscle we’re wasting. So, this happens really fast. So, the idea of I’m sick, let’s stay on bed in a senior is almost a no-no.
So I prefer them, okay, you can lay down bed for two hours and then I’m going to sit down. Let’s go to the bathroom. Let’s come back.
So, we have to really engage and be attentive to not be in the bed because I’m sick. Things that, sadly, in our hospital still, we need a lot of work because we don’t have enough staff to avoid that. But, I think the importance is to avoid being in one position for a long period of time.

Manahil (14:52 – 16:27)
Wow. I definitely have been hearing a lot about strength training. Like, it’s definitely getting popular, the importance of doing that, especially early on, because like you said, you start to lose muscle way faster as you age, but balance is one that I hadn’t heard of.
And, now I’m thinking to my balancing abilities and I feel like I need to start like practicing while I’m brushing my teeth. I like those practical tips that you give. And, even the “getting up while you’re sitting down,” like, we have a three-hour class and we get up once while we’re sitting down.
So, I like that idea of a timer or something to kind of notify you to get up. So yeah, definitely some very helpful and practical tips.
So, we’ve talked a little bit about aging and aging healthily.
So, we’d like to switch gears a bit into taking care of elderly parents. A lot of our listeners might have parents or even grandparents that they’re taking care of. So, this information is obviously going to be very helpful to them, also even to us as we have grandparents.
And, before we even get started talking about that, I think the first biggest question that we have for you is, “How do we even bring up these topics related to aging with our parents or grandparents, given that it can be sort of a sensitive topic?” So, for example, things like, ability to drive independently, or even something like, needing to move into assisted living. Do you have any tips to bring this up in a sensitive way?

Dr. Alejandra Villalobos (16:28 – 21:59)
Yes, I think that this is a really tricky situation, but I think I want to go back in time because we’re thinking that aging is like a disease, correct? So, then, we think that aging is a disease that we need to care for and treat and cure. Then all our questions change.
So, aging is not a disease, it’s part of living. And, the more we normalize the conversation of, “this is what happens when I’m aging, I will be slower. It’s true, I will be slower. I will, at times I will need help if I’m sick.” So, then the sooner we have a conversation around the table about aging and what things can change, and this I think should be started really at 40, 50, correct? So, my children are going to university and then it’s a time to say, “wait a minute, what are you going to do? What happens if you get sick?” So, it can be even both ways, correct? So, you can talk to your children about going to university, what happens if they get sick?
And then what happens to you when you’re here and you get sick? And slowly with a normalization that it’s really impossible to be driving until you’re 120, we will say, you know, “what happens if we cannot drive?” And, it can happen to anybody. It can happen to younger adults. It can happen to older adults. And then, “what will be our plans?”
And, then, just open the conversation. So, if we feel, any of my patients feel targeted, that you are the one who is “sick,” because you’re older, then my normal response will be, I’m going to defend everything I got to you guys who think that you’re going to be, you know, that you believe that I’m sick. So, I think that’s important.
So, first, we start early in a conversation, normalizing, avoiding this connotation that aging is a disease, and then opening the conversation about, “what are you going to do when you move out? What I’m going to do if suddenly the house is too big for me? What are your thoughts?”
Normal conversation.
Now, it’s not just one conversation, then you move on to move to a senior living. It really is a layer over layer of different conversations.
So, when it’s time to make a big move, you say, “mom, you remember you told me a while back, and we have talked about this, that when the house is too big, or you have falls from the stairs, or that you will prefer this change.” And, then, the person will say, “you know what? This is true. We have talked about it.” And, then, now it will be an easier transition instead of, “okay, surprise!” And, I think it will be healthier. And then we’ll feel better.
Now, I understand that sometimes we just have to step up, and now my senior is sick, if they have a dementia. Now it’s a different conversation. Now we have an illness, and the illness will have to just push the agenda a little more because they can get themselves in danger, or they can endanger to others. And, that’s a different conversation.
But, I think from a regular perspective: everybody healthy, then I think opening the conversation early on feels better.
The other thing I want to add on to every listener is the importance to value a senior in our homes. I think moving from the Bronx to Canada, gave me a big perspective of the intergenerational, generational families. So, where the grandparent lives in the home, the children live in the home, the grandchildren, great-grandchildren live.
So, you have three generations in one household, that is really amazing.
In the Bronx, it was really difficult to find that, I think just because of the difficulty in this life setting. But, constantly valuing a senior to be the anchor of a family is extremely important.
Because, at times, if we don’t have that connection of valuing, having really being blessed with a senior in our home, then the family structure really crumbles. And, at times my patients feel that they don’t have any value anymore. So, I have patients who are 92, 93, and then they’re alone in the home and say there’s no point of keep on living, because nobody has really said that to them, that it’s important to them to have them.
I just don’t want to move on with different questions- I want to put the importance for everybody listening to encourage and to praise the importance of having a senior. And, also, be sure that our seniors are not just a decoration in the home. “Okay, you don’t have to do anything. You don’t cook, you don’t clean, you don’t polish, you don’t, you just stay here.” So, as all of us human beings, we want to participate. We cannot be a decoration of the home, we have to do things. If not, then I question, “what is my purpose here, there’s no role for me.” So, that will be a homework for you all listeners.

Heemani (22:00 – 22:58)
Thank you so much for sharing. The intergenerational aspect really resonates with me, because my grandparents do live with me. And, so, there are three generations in our house, which is really nice, because I feel really connected to them, as I’m sure they do to me, whereas if they had lived elsewhere, we wouldn’t really have this, you know, connection.
And, so, yeah, this was a really interesting point that I think you brought up.
And, then, also, yes, these topics can be difficult to bring up. The tips that you have shared, they can really help adults feel a little bit more confident in bringing these topics up to their parents in a way where, you know, their parents don’t feel like they’re losing control or their independence.
And, so, this brings me to my next question. Many listeners may have parents who want to stay independent. And, so, what are some ways to help them do this safely at home?

Dr. Alejandra Villalobos (22:59 – 27:30)
Yes, so I think to live independently, I think all of us were aiming in some context that we can do that. I think, how we’re aging, our life expectancy in the area that I work in York Region is 87 for women and 84 for men. But, somehow, I’m seeing patients in their home, really, I see patients up to 108 years old.
So, it’s pretty— even though that’s the average, still, we can live much, much longer.
I think the challenge that I see on an everyday basis is something that is not related to seniors is really about new construction of houses. So, our new houses are meant to have multiple levels of stairs. And, just the concept of living at home forever is just now not possible because, as a human being we’re not meant to do stairs on a regular basis. We can climb a mountain, we can do some hills, we can do— but in general, going up and down the steps several times just go to the washroom is just not a part of our human nature. And, that costs a lot of wear and tear in our body. So, I think the construction will be one. We’re aiming to live in the same household, then, you have to look to a house that accommodates some modifications in the home. We cannot assume that we will be here with no modifications. You have to make certain arrangements in the home, so, you have an accessible bathroom, an accessible bedroom, an accessible kitchen, and also doing those modifications would really help to prevent falls. Our big enemy, at our age is falling. So, investing, when you’re in your 70s, when this conversation about driving, not driving, house change, you said, “you know, I want to stay home.” So, let’s just start doing the proper modifications.
In Ontario, at times, they have done some tax credits to improve the home when there’s three generations. So, I think looking at, you know, “we’re in 60s, 70s, we’re going to retire, and, then I’m going to stay home,” is just really envision how my home can be renovated, so it’s easier that I can access my home. I think that will be the number one.
The second is I have to maintain my physical vitality doing my exercises. I cannot just be certain that if I don’t do any exercise, I can be at home the longest I can. So, that will be another important aspect.
And, also if you have complex medical conditions. So, when the level of complex medical conditions— you have three or four medical conditions added on to your already changes of your body— then it gets more challenging because you will need somebody else to pay attention to what every doctor is saying, because sometimes they make recommendations that are contradictory, even for diet. Correct? So, the kidney specialist said something, and then the heart specialist said something else. And, now, I’m so confused that my patients are eating just toast because the butter was prohibited. So, you need somebody else who can negotiate all this information and be an advocate.
So, looking at your home, that’s important. Second is, looking at your body to be physically able to keep up with the changes of your life. And, then, having an advocate when there’s more level of complexity of medical conditions. I think in this overlay of having a purpose in life that always helps because that really puts you through, okay? “I know that you want me to take all this medicines or go and do more tests, but I have a planned vacation to Italy. So, I’m sorry, doctor. I know that you have your agenda, but I’m going to go to Italy. And when I come back, we’ll rethink about this…” and. that’s okay. That should be okay too.

Manahil (27:31 – 28:20)
I really like that flexibility piece at the end there that it’s important to just, you know, live your life and be able to enjoy it. I also like that you touched on mobility and keeping up with your daily tasks to find that purpose that you talked about.
I want to go back to one of the points that you mentioned while we were talking about healthy aging. So, you said that it was important to stay socially connected because community is just so important to us for our mental wellbeing. So, let’s say we have a senior living at home. I think it gets harder as you age and, as you’re not going to work anymore so you’re just living at home, to find that community and to stay socially connected. Obviously your family would be a good start, but beyond that, we’re wondering if you have any advice for helping seniors at home feel more connected.

Dr. Alejandra Villalobos (28:22 – 30:50)
Yeah, so I think it’s having community is extremely important. And, I think a lot of good humans and good people in Ontario are trying to brainstorm how to encourage that. Between “loneliness prescription” or “social prescription,” building several community centres around the area. But, I think to get out of the shell, correct, because we get into our life, caring for our children, working, and then suddenly you don’t get out to know what your community is about. So, I think really at the age of 40, 50, you start getting out to community events. And, here in Ontario, we have so many, correct? From cultural, from religious — people who are really religious, they really can reach out to their religious background. And, they have a lot of activities for seniors. The challenge is how to get out from that shell or that comfort zone, from language perspective, from more difficulty with walking or more difficulty with hearing or more difficulty with my vision.
And, the best way to really bring people out is with people from the community inviting them. So, I’m from, I don’t know, so, like, the Catholic church and somebody will come to the home to give, I don’t know, communion, then say, “We’re going to have an event tomorrow. Come. I’ll be there.” Correct? “I’m a friendly face. You know me. I’ll be there. Don’t worry. I will come for you. And, then, we’ll go out!” That will be, I think, that will be the best way to engage them.
It’s really difficult for my patients, really after the age of 75 or so, to get out for the first time and look at the community activities. Ideally, we start doing that at 40, 50, 60. You go with the flow and then you’re constantly looking what is next happening in your community. But, if you never experience that and you have some concerns the best is the some community event, youhave a list of people and then going, I think, almost door to door and inviting them. Say, no problem, have always accessible bathrooms, have always accessible things so people feel that they can go there and they will not cause any trouble to anybody else.

Heemani (30:50 – 31:38)
These are some great ways to stay socially connected. I really like how you spoke about community events and trying to start attending these a little bit earlier on, like in your 40s and 50s, which makes it easier for you to then be able to attend them when you’re older because you have been attending these events for years. I think you’ve brought up some really great ways to stay socially connected.
My next question is shifting gears a little bit. We know cognitive abilities decline as we age. We just wanted to know, what are a few early warning signs of cognitive decline or dementia that families should be aware of?

Dr. Alejandra Villalobos (1:38 – 5:55)
That’s really part of my day-to-day realm that we’re living, correct? The older I’m getting, the higher chances to get a medical condition like dementia.
Now, I have several patients, they’re so worried about getting dementia that now they start forgetting things because they’re so worried about them. So, they’re pushing their brain to the extreme and really it is a lot of education to those patients that anxiety and overall mental health can affect the way our brain works. So, the more I worry about memory changes or I’m depressed or sad, the more I will have difficulty to remember things. So, always be proactive. We see mental health issues in my patients and it can be in the healthier or younger people. We have to take care of that so we know that we can prevent our brain to decline.
Then, we have the early signs of cognitive decline or signs of early dementia will be really memory loss, short-term memory loss, from forgetting what they had for breakfast, saying, you know, “I don’t know if it’s time for lunch.”
We can see it more in complex tasks, example, paying bills. So, sometimes it can be that they’re not paying the bills or they’re paying double, correct? So, this will be some level of alarm.
Medication. So, if now suddenly I have extra pills, so I have bottles and then they’re extra pills. And, most of my patients who have problems with memory loss, they’re adamant that they’re taking it. And, they’re not trying to lie to you, they really believe that they’re taking it, but then we realize that there’s issues with short-term memory.
Other types of dementia are odd behaviours but they are really rare. So, odd behaviours of sudden changes of personality. I have patients who suddenly start gambling at the age of 70, being, I don’t know, in dates at 70, something odd. Also there’s some signs that this is just not normal.
Something important in Canada in general is that geriatricians, like my specialty, we’re really few. So, I think an average, I think in whole Canada, we have almost like less than 500. So, really few geriatricians. So, we are unable to care for every senior that we have.
So, that’s why I think the area of advocacy and education— that everybody in the community has some understanding of geriatrics— is extremely important for me. So, everybody has a little bit to give or a little education. So, everybody knows something about aging and geriatrics.
And also, I think we have to be an advocate that there’s a big gap for caring for a senior in Ontario. I think in 2026 every five citizens will be one senior. And we’re just, we don’t have that capacity to continue caring as a specialist, a physician.
I think we have to expand that other areas of expertise from— you’ve got dietician, nurses, everybody pitching, they have some level of understanding, because I think something important, as a geriatrician, we’re really good in working in collaboration. We do not do everything one-on-one. Ideally, in the best way of using a geriatrician, is a collaboration of multiple disciplines and everybody’s doing their part. And, we are not just carrying every patient just one visit at a time. We’re just trying to direct what to do in the care for patients.
So, I’m sorry that I did that little sideway bit of advocacy, but I think with the summary of the cognitive decline, I think you have the picture.

Manahil (35:56 – 36:44)
Well, what you said, that’s really important. And, we hope that through education and through listening to podcasts like this, we can educate more people about aging and the importance of geriatricians. And, also, like you mentioned, the collaboration, that’s definitely very important because, as you were sharing earlier, like, it’s a very holistic view that we take when it comes to healthy aging. So, everyone does need to be on the same page. And, I think the community piece as well, it’s all just coming together to support both ourselves and the elderly in our communities as the population is increasing.
So, I guess our last real question for you is, what kind of supports are there for families who are supporting aging parents or maybe just elderly individuals themselves?

Dr. Alejandra Villalobos (36:44 – 48:07)
Right. So, I think every community has its own resources.
So, I will say in York Region and in the area of Toronto, we have the Regional Geriatric Program called the RGP. This has a lot of resources from healthy aging, frailty, exercises, nutrition. So, that is one really good source of information. I’m really thinking that in your area of Guelph, they have a big geriatric group and possibly they have also resources in a similar way?
Other website that I use is called Central Health Line. They distribute the information depending on your region. And, they have resources about things like food care, physical therapy, vision, hearing tests that I think is really accessible.
Other things in the area of dementia, McMaster has done a nice website, it’s called iGeriCare. And, really, they focus on education about dementia. But also McMaster has some areas of exercises that also is pretty helpful to have.
So, I think here it’s every area will have their little resources, but I think looking at those will be a really good idea.

Heemani (38:07 – 38:46)
Thank you so much for sharing. These are definitely some amazing resources that families can take advantage of, especially since they cover almost everything in terms of aging. And, since there’s so many resources throughout communities or even online, there’s a lot of resources that families can definitely use to learn about healthy aging and everything that goes with it.
And, so, to close out the podcast today, we usually like to give families three practical take-home tips. Considering what we’ve talked about today, what are three tips that can be shared with our listeners to help them or their loved ones with healthy aging?

Dr. Alejandra Villalobos (38:47 – 40:40)
Yeah, I think we covered different aspects of aging, but I think, one: looking at a holistic approach first is seeing aging not as a disease. I think will be of number one importance because that really changes the way I frame questions. Aging is not a disease, it’s just part of our normal life.
Second, the importance of physical activity attached with diet, for me, goes together. It’s not one or both. So, it would be one point that really we have to advocate, we continue, we have to be proactive since early on. Physical activity, diet, strength training, and balance.
And, the last one will be the importance of community. And, I think we have a lot of roles. As granddaughters, so how to engage them in activities from school? You know, whey’re going to have a concert, we’re going to bring them. I think grandchildren have a power of bringing the grandparents out. If they’re shy, they don’t speak the language, if they have visual impairment or hearing impairment, but, I think the importance of the family really will be, I think, the key part of bringing all my seniors out.
And, a good amount of them, they will do it for you. They will not do it for other people, not for the doctors, but they will do it for you. And, so, I think that is extremely important to advocate, to know that this is important for all the family who are listening, to always look a way of how we can envision that they are out, not only for a graduation ceremony, for all the activities that we can get them out for, the better.

Manahil (40:41 – 41:30)
Wow. You shared so many practical tips during this podcast, but I think those three ones were definitely the most important ones that stood out. So, thank you so much for sharing.
This has been so informative just for me alone. You shared so many helpful tips with us, but also just perspective shifts of how we think about aging in general. You mentioned the “quantity over quality” thing, or seeing it not as a disease, but just as a natural thing of the life cycle. So, there’s definitely going to be things that I’m implementing myself, or I’m just going to send this episode to my mom as soon as we have it. And, I really hope that our listeners learn something as well.
So, we just want to say thank you so much for coming out here and sharing all of your expertise and experiences with us.

Dr. Alejandra Villalobos (41:31 – 41:38)
Well, you’re welcome. The more we have this big wave of supporting seniors, I think, all of us, we’re going to win.