Technology and the elderly

Technology and the elderly

International expert Samir Sinha explores how the gadgets of today and tomorrow may help us age well.

By Anne Craig

March 22, 2017

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Dr. Samir Sinha is coming to Queen's Friday, March 31 to speak on technology and the elderly. - Photo courtesy Mark Nowaczynski  

The Queen鈥檚 University School of Rehabilitation Therapy is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a speaker series. Elder care expert and Rhodes Scholar Samir Sinha presents his lecture The Potential Promise, Pitfalls and Peril of Mobile Technologies in Enabling Care for Our Ageing Population as the second event in the series.

With an ever growing interest around the potential for driverless cars, mobile technologies and general technology in our lives, Dr. Sinha鈥檚 lecture will explore some of the promising aspects that futurists tell us technology will deliver society and whether we can count on technology to hold the answers to finding better ways to care for the aging population.

In 2014, Dr. Sinha gave the Duncan Sinclair Lecture in Health Policy titled Canada's Coming of Age: How Ready Are We to Meet the Needs of Our Aging Population? Watch the video

He also examines what some of the early perils and pitfalls have taught us how much we don鈥檛 know and still need to know in supporting our ageing population.

鈥淭he answer to our everyday problems is increasingly receiving the response 鈥 鈥榯here鈥檚 an app for that!鈥 although we are quickly learning that the success of mobile technologies needs to start with understanding why and who we are designing them for,鈥 says Dr. Sinha.

 鈥淒r. Sinha鈥檚 lecture will be of great interest to those engaged in a broad range of fields including health care delivery, administration, and policy development,鈥 says Marcia Finlayson, director, School of Rehabilitation Therapy. 鈥淐elebration of the School鈥檚 50th Anniversary has been a catalyst to bring voices such as Dr. Sinha鈥檚 to campus 鈥 this enables our school to contribute to the Queen鈥檚 and the broader Kingston communities in a unique and meaningful way.鈥

Dr. Sinha is the Director of Geriatrics at Sinai Health System and the University Health Network in Toronto and an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.  He started his undergraduate studies in life sciences at Queen鈥檚.

He is an international expert in the care of older adults and has consulted and advised governments and health care organizations around the world. Dr. Sinha is also the architect of the Government of Ontario鈥檚 Seniors Strategy. In 2014, Maclean鈥檚 proclaimed him to be one of Canada鈥檚 50 most influential people and its most compelling voice for the elderly.

The seminar takes place Friday, March 31 at 4 pm in the Donald Gordon Centre, 421 Union Street. For more information visit the .

Health Sciences