2024 FRIESEN CONFERENCE
Conference Theme "Community Care and Supports for Older Adults: Inclusion, Innovation & Integration"
The Simon Fraser University Gerontology Research Centre (GRC) and the associated Department of Gerontology welcome you to the 31st John K. Friesen Conference entitled “Community Care and Supports for Older Adults: Inclusion, Innovation and Integration.” The conference aims to provide information enabling our society to address cutting-edge issues and new opportunities to enhance community care and support systems targeting a rapidly aging population. Some of the emerging themes include social prescribing care and integration of community and health care systems, applications to age-friendly communities, and examination of facilitators and barriers to enhanced care, such as ageism, declining economic security, marginalization, and technological literacy and its age-related divides. Social prescribing builds on community and healthcare integration by focusing explicitly on the access and alignment of services to meet the assessed needs of individuals and communities. Highlights include keynote addresses; topical panel discussions, symposia, and poster displays presented by local, national, and international speakers representing community organizations, NGOs, government, and academic sectors.
John K. Friesen Conference Series
This conference is the 31st offering in the John K. Friesen Conference Series in Gerontology. The series is designed to meet the continuing education needs of agencies and individuals responsible for planning, administering and providing services to the elderly. The series embraces two of John Friesen’s lifetime interests – the education of adults and the special needs of an aging population.
John Friesen was one of Canada’s leading contributors to the field of adult education. In his more than forty year career, Dr. Friesen served in university extension work in Canada and overseas and was involved in enhancing the lives of older adults in many different ways - from community arts to credit unions. For his leadership role in adult education, Simon Fraser University awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree in 1985. Click here for information about previous conferences in the series.