Rehabilitation can enable older people to be as independent as possible in everyday life and to live meaningful lives. What is needed in health systems for rehabilitation to become a key element for healthy ageing?
Our understanding of healthy ageing has developed significantly over the past decade. It is now widely acknowledged that the ageing process is heterogeneous and health care in older adults should take an integrated and more personalized approach. Health services should therefore focus on optimizing functional ability, enabling a meaningful life despite of age-related health restrictions.
Rehabilitation science has also changed and moved away from providing interventions solely after acute events or for people with disability towards developing comprehensive programs that consider individual needs and profiles of persons with health conditions, such as stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or back pain, and of persons experiencing age-related declines in functioning thereby playing a crucial role in the person-centred and functional ability-oriented healthcare for older adults.
At the University of Lucerne, two assistant professorships (tenure track) were funded with the partial support from Velux Stiftung, to establish a research agenda on Rehabilitation and Healthy Ageing. This initiative aims to create synergies at the intersection of diverse disciplines that focus on healthy ageing research and is making substantial progress after four years.
At the level of health systems, Carla Sabariego and her team aimed to expand the evidence about when and how rehabilitation services are currently reaching older adults. A series of three scoping reviews, recently complemented by a global online consultation of health professional, provide an important picture of the current situation question. In a next step, the evidence will be summarized for decision makers in a policy brief, including potential areas for improvement. Carla Sabariego also holds leadership roles as Co-Director of the Center for Rehabilitation in Global Health Systems and Co-Head of the respective WHO Collaborating Center. Her research done in collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for Europe increases the impact of her work.
The economic perspective on improving rehabilitation for healthy ageing is an equally important part of the equation. Diana Pacheco and her team examine the effects of chronic conditions on employment and retirement in over 20 European countries. Her research measures societal losses and evaluates the costs and benefits of rehabilitation services.
In August, Carla Sabariego completed her tenure and became the first full professor for Rehabilitation and Healthy Ageing recognizing her broad expertise and contributions to the field. We warmly congratulate Professor Sabariego on this promotion which is an important step to sustainably anchor research on healthy ageing and rehabilitation in health systems at the University of Lucerne.
