Age Friendly Communities
Led by Mary Ruhl
Wednesday, May 9 | 3:00 p.m.
Admission: $5.00
Mary Ruhl
Join us for a discussion about Age Friendly Communities, led by Mary Ruhl. We’ll be exploring how communities adapt as our population ages and people stay healthy and active longer, among other questions.
Portland State Graduate Scholar and Clinical Psychologist Iris Wernher will provide an overview of the World Health Organization’s Age-Friendly Cities framework, Portland’s long-standing role in its development, and the city’s ongoing work toward becoming more “livable” for people of all ages and abilities. In this context, Iris will introduce the concept of dementia-friendly communities (as proposed by the Dementia Friendly America initiative) and discuss possibilities to integrate age- and dementia-friendly efforts. Following the presentation we’ll have a discussion about how age-friendly initiatives may apply to small rural settings.
Iris is a doctoral student in Urban Studies at Portland State University (PSU), with an emphasis in gerontology and community health planning. She works as Graduate Research Assistant at PSU’s Institute on Aging, where she has been involved in the Age-Friendly Portland and Multnomah County initiatives since 2013. Before moving to Portland, Iris worked as a clinical psychologist at a memory clinic in Germany; her dissertation will focus on holistic approaches to making cities and communities more “dementia friendly.” Iris also volunteers with the local aging-in-place Village movement.
Join us for a discussion about Age Friendly Communities, led by Mary Ruhl. We’ll be exploring how communities adapt as our population ages and people stay healthy and active longer, among other questions.
Also featuring Iris Wernher.
