“People Want to Get Older and Stay and Continue to Live in the Community That’s Home for Them.”

The Resonance Test 17: Secretary Alice Bonner and Laurance Stuntz

“Aging begins the moment we are born.”

This is the profound opening statement one finds on the webpage of Alice Bonner, Secretary of the Massachusetts office of Elder Affairs.

When you consider aging an event of a lifetime—for you and every other member of humanity—you develop a thoughtful and creative attitude toward it. You treat it, in a way, like a continuous innovation project. Fact is, our bodies and minds do iterate themselves, incessantly. Being healthy, happy, and well requires, of course, a lifetime of attention, the proper mindset, and sometimes the help and support of other people—various sorts of interventions.

On this, the 17th installment of The Resonance Test, we dig deep into the innovations around aging and digital health. Joining Secretary Bonner for an invigorating discussion is Laurance Stuntz, the Director of the Massachusetts eHealth Institute at MassTech, and Continuum’s SVP, Mike Dunkley. Tune in, and hear Secretary Bonner and Stuntz remark:

• “Aging is not about old people; it’s about families and communities.” —Secretary Bonner

• “Humans are good at empathy, about caring, about so on; technology is really bad at that generally.”—Laurance Stuntz

• “If we don’t get people to start thinking about aging and longevity as a lifespan event, starting at the time that we’re born, then we miss the opportunity for people to, for example, start saving for retirement. Realize how much it takes to save for retirement.” — Secretary Bonner

• “Figure out where the cost is, and then follow that to a viable business model.” —Laurance Stuntz

• “People want to get older and stay and continue to live in the community that’s home for them.” —Secretary Bonner

Host: Pete Chapin
Editor: Kyp Pilalas
Producer: Ken Gordon