He offered a more hopeful message about demographic changes – saying it was a good measure of the standard of living, healthcare and the general economy of a place.
‘If I could remove a word from the English language, it would be retirement,’ said Mr Allsopp, who was the guest speaker at the celebration of Health Connections’ first year achievements evening.
‘I would replace it with a word I have made up, “renaissement”, which is when you’ve finished compulsory work and can get started on what you want to do and what you feel is important because there is no doubt that doing something is better than doing nothing.’
He added: ‘Restrictive life-spans tend to go with poor areas – Guernsey ranks 8th, 9th or 10th in the world for having one of the oldest demographics, depending on which figures you look at, and this suggests that Guernsey is a pretty good place to live.
‘The important thing is for the older people to be well, if they are sick all the time they will become a drain.’
The purpose of his talk was to discuss other places in the world that have an ageing demographic and where the people decline relatively quickly.
‘We have a great opportunity in Guernsey with our population and care available, if we can get it right we have a chance of really improving the health of islanders.
‘Rather than being depressed about having an ageing population, one needs to approach it with a degree of optimism.’
Ageing started from the time of conception, and although there was little that can be done at that time, Mr Allsopp said the first two years of a child’s life were crucial in development so care at that time should be impeccable.
‘It doesn’t just mean throwing money at healthcare – although if the Partnership of Purpose is going to become a true reality it’s going to need some funding – it needs every one of us individually to take responsibility for our health and take pride in being well.’
He said the work of Health Connections was very positive and was so important in achieving a happier, healthier and more fulfilled population.
Various research projects led to his passion about prevention of ailments.
‘I accept for some people getting sick is just the luck of the draw, but for others, a lot of it is actually preventable, being healthy is a skill we need to learn and continue to teach throughout life.’
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