ICAA CEO to discuss healthy aging in upcoming European Commission workshop

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Outcomes will influence policy initiative at the European Union level

VANCOUVER--With falling birth rates and rising longevity, the European Union (EU), an organization of 27 member countries representing 495 million people, faces significant population aging in the years to come. Governments and nongovernmental organizations increasingly recognize healthy aging as one key to meeting the challenges and harnessing the opportunities of population aging. The European Commission, the EU's executive body, is among those striving to promote healthy aging. As part of these ongoing efforts, the Commission's Health and Consumers Directorate-General will hold three brainstorming workshops in October on issues related to healthy aging, and has invited Colin Milner, founder and CEO of the International Council on Active Aging® (ICAA), to participate. ICAA is an association that supports professionals who provide wellness and fitness facilities,
programs and services for adults over 50. Milner launched the association on October 1, 2001, with the goal of Changing the way we age®.

The ICAA leader will be one of no more than 20 invitees meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on October 12 for a daylong brainstorming session on focusing innovations in health and health technology to the needs of older adults. According to the invitation, the workshop's results are expected to inform a healthy aging policy initiative--including recommendations and key actions--at the EU level. Milner's participation will allow him to share ICAA's contributions in advancing active aging, with the goal of influencing the EU's response to population aging.

"ICAA is both progressive and passionate about how people age," says Milner. "Our community's dynamic efforts to promote active aging are having an impact on the ground and increasing awareness of this vital way of aging. This success has caught the attention of organizations and governments. We are eager to share with them our knowledge and expertise in encouraging older adults to live a full, healthy and active life at any age, as well as how to support them practically."

The upcoming EC workshop is the latest opportunity for Milner to spread ICAA's active-aging message internationally. As a member of the World Economic Forum's Network of Global Agenda Councils, Milner has communicated the value of active aging on this world stage since 2008. In November, he will return to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates for the third annual Summit on the Global Agenda, a meeting that fosters long-range, interdisciplinary thinking on global issues. Milner also took part recently in the World Economic Forum's expert roundtable on longevity in Rüschlikon, Switzerland, held in collaboration with Swiss Re and the World Demographic & Ageing Forum.

About the International Council on Active Aging

The International Council on Active Aging® is the professional association that leads, connects and defines the active-aging industry. ICAA supports professionals who develop wellness facilities, programs and services for adults over 50. The association is focused on active aging—an approach to aging that helps older adults live as fully as possible within all dimensions of wellness—and provides its members with education, information, resources and tools. As an active-aging educator and advocate, ICAA has advised numerous organizations and governmental bodies, including the US Administration on Aging, the National Institute on Aging (one of the US National Institutes of Health), the US Department of Health and Human Services, Canada’s Special Senate Committee on Aging, and the British Columbia ministries of Health, and Healthy Living and Sport.

For interviews please contact:

Contact: Colin Milner, CEO, ICAA
Toll-free: 1-866-335-9777 (North America)
Telephone: 604-734-4466; cell: 604-763-4595
colinmilner@icaa.cc

Contact: Marilynn Larkin
Communications Director, ICAA
212-315-3301
mlarkin@icaa.cc