The Framework of Healthy Aging
To better understand healthy aging, we need to understand the framework under which we work. There are four important domains to incorporate:
1) What Matters? - Align with health goals and outcomes, including end of life care
2) Medication - If medication is necessary, be sure to use medications that are age appropriate and do the least harm across the other three domains
3) Mentation - Prevent, identify, and treat dementia, depression, anxiety
4) Mobility - Ensure people have the equipment and resources available to move around their environments as safely as possible
These “4 M’s” are appropriated from the Institute for Health Improvement Age-Friendly Health Systems. I strongly feel that this framework, although primarily applied to older adults and elder care, is critically important for all to age in a healthy manner!

