FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK)\u2014\u00a0Leaders across Southwest Florida are coming together with a bold goal: not just helping people live longer, but helping them live better.<\/p>\n
At Florida Gulf Coast University, the Shady Rest Institute on Positive Aging is leading a new regional effort aimed at extending the number of healthy years people live, known as \u201chealthspan.\u201d The initiative, called the Southwest Florida Healthspan Partnership, officially launched this week, bringing together hundreds of leaders from healthcare, education, business and government.<\/p>\n
Their goal is to increase healthspan in the region by seven years by 2040.<\/p>\n
While people in Southwest Florida are already living longer than the national average, experts say there\u2019s still a major gap between how long people live and how long they stay healthy. On average, residents live into their 80s, but spend more than a decade managing serious illness or disability, something leaders say needs to change.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just don\u2019t want to add years to life, we want to add quality years of life,\u201d said Shawn Felton, dean of FGCU\u2019s Marieb College of Health & Human Services.<\/p>\n
Felton says improving healthspan goes far beyond traditional healthcare.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t just begin at the aging aspect or at the retiree area,\u201d he said. \u201cIt really begins in our public schools. It\u2019s about workforce development. It\u2019s about social isolation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The launch event also featured keynote speaker Ken Dychtwald, a psychologist and internationally recognized expert on aging and longevity. He says the world is experiencing a major shift in how people age.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor most of human history, the average life expectancy was under 25,\u201d Dychtwald said. \u201cNow, living to 80, 90, or even 100 is becoming commonplace.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he says living longer doesn\u2019t necessarily mean living well.<\/p>\n
\u201cHealthspan is how many of those years you\u2019re in vibrant, vital health,\u201d he explained. \u201cAnd we have a lot of improving to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Dychtwald, the United States ranks behind dozens of other countries when it comes to both lifespan and healthspan. He believes regions like Southwest Florida have a unique opportunity to lead by example.<\/p>\n
With one of the largest aging populations in the country, Southwest Florida is being seen as a testing ground for what a healthier future could look like.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis region has a higher percentage of older people than most anywhere in the world,\u201d Dychtwald said. \u201cSo we can either see that as a challenge or as an opportunity to lead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Organizers say the initiative is designed to bring together leaders across multiple industries to create long-term change. It will focus not just on healthcare, but also on factors like mental health, social connection, education and access to resources.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s not one magic piece,\u201d Felton said. \u201cThere are a lot of areas that, in totality, will move this forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Experts say one of the most overlooked factors in healthy aging is something simple:\u00a0having a sense of purpose.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I\u2019ve learned in 50 years in this field is that it\u2019s often the relationships we have\u2026 and having a purpose,\u201d Dychtwald said. \u201cLongevity is fueled by purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n
That message may be especially important in Southwest Florida, where many retirees are adjusting to life after leaving the workforce.<\/p>\n
Leaders say this week\u2019s launch is just the beginning, with more collaboration, research and community involvement expected in the coming years as they work toward their 2040 goal. They hope the effort will not only improve lives locally, but also serve as a model for the rest of the country, showing what it looks like to live longer, healthier and more fulfilling lives.<\/p>\n
You can learn more at .\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK)\u2014\u00a0Leaders across Southwest Florida are coming together with a bold goal: not just helping people…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,28,9149,897,7931,13781,24113,1521],"class_list":["post-197315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-florida","tag-florida-gulf-coast-university","tag-fort-myers","tag-healthcare","tag-illness","tag-keynote-speaker","tag-southwest-florida"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}