CBU to open new healthy aging research centre

SYDNEY — Cape Breton University’s newest research centre, the Centre of Excellence for Healthy Aging, will open this summer.

The centre’s mandate is to engage in research to promote better health care for older adults, like the acutely ill.

It will also actively contribute to the training of health-care professionals and refining support for an aging population.

The centre is an example of CBU’s commitment to local priorities, said CBU’s associate vice president Tanya Brann-Barrett in a news release.

“The Centre of Excellence for Healthy Aging is an incredible addition to Cape Breton University’s focus on research to support healthy and thriving communities,” said BrannBarrett.

“It will help us to advance our interests in community-based research and practice, population health, rural health and Indigenous health research.”

The starting project will work with the Canadian Consortium on neurodegeneration in aging (CCNA) as a partner in a national study designed to reduce risk factors for dementia.

The inaugural project will do this by examining the impact of prevention.

The study will target those between 60 to 85 years old from across Canada to take part in a one-year study using Brain Health Pro (BHPro).

BHPro is an online program offering interactive education and activities to empower older adults to approve their physical and mental health.

Participants in the program will receive portable EEG headsets that measure brain activity during sleep and accelerometers to track their physical activity.

To learn more about the centre, visit cbu.ca/healthyaging.