July 13, 2018
The Aspen Tree, a Thailand-based international provider of services and residences for older adults, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Canada’s Baycrest, a world-renowned research and care center, to partner in developing care and communities for older adults in Asia and Thailand, formalizing the collaboration with a signing ceremony at Research & Innovation for Sustainability Center (RISC) at Magnolias Ratchadamri Boulevard (MRB).
The MoU was signed by The Aspen Tree President Ms. Hye-June Park and Dr. William E Reichman, Baycrest President and CEO, who signed on behalf of Baycrest’s wholly owned international subsidiary Baycrest Global Solutions Inc.
Ms. Hye-June Park described the partnership as founded on a common concern for human well-being. This commitment comes within the founding principle ‘for all well-being’ of The Aspen’s Tree’s parent, the international property developer Magnolia Quality Development Corporation Limited (MQDC).
The alliance aims to integrate Baycrest’s healthcare excellence with The Aspen Tree’s expertise in property and services to improve quality of life for older adults and offer global best practice.
“Baycrest and The Aspen Tree share a dedication to providing lifetime care for older adults in Thailand, Southeast Asia, and the People’s Republic of China and enabling civilized aging through innovations in sustainable care and residential design and management,” said Ms. Park.
“Both organizations want to encourage aging-in-place and to help older adults keep the wellness and brain health to live happily, enjoying ‘intrinsic dignity,’ self-respect, and fulfilling relationships with nature, family, and society at large.”
Under the MoU, Baycrest will help The Aspen Tree develop a new living model for older adults, integrating health and wellness programs based on Baycrest’s at Toronto, where it has been operating for over 100 years.
Dr. Reichman said the collaboration could greatly benefit older adults in countries experiencing the ‘grey tsunami’ of aging demographics. Thailand is Asia’s third most rapidly aging nation, with about a quarter of Thais set to be 65 or over by 2040.
“Thailand, along with many other countries, is on the verge of experiencing a ‘grey tsunami’. Baycrest, as a leader in aging and brain health, is well equipped and committed to collaborating with global leaders to prepare for the dramatic demographic shift currently underway around the globe,” he said.
“It is part of Baycrest’s heritage and integral to our vision to create a world where every older adult enjoys a life of purpose, inspiration and fulfillment.”
Mr. Visit Malaisirirat, CEO of MQDC, the parent of The Aspen Tree, described the partnership as “an important strategic move” amid Asia’s shifting demographics.
“In partnering with a global expert in civilized aging like Baycrest, MQDC is making an important strategic move in response to one of the most pressing issues of our Thai and international society: how to provide for the needs of our rapidly aging population. Baycrest complements MQDC’s vision with over a century of experience in senior living solutions that go beyond the conventional," he said.
About aging in Thailand
Thailand is undergoing a rapid demographic shift with implications for every aspect of its society. The World Bank predicts that by 2040 more than a quarter of the Thai population will be 65 or over, up from 11% in 2016 and only 5% in 1995.
Driven mainly by a plunge in fertility rates, which dropped from 6.1 in 1965 to 1.5 in 2015, Thailand now ranks alongside China as having the highest share of elderly people in any developing nation in East Asia and the Pacific.
The Bank of Thailand has also predicted that Thailand will become the first developing country to become an ‘aged’ society.
But the change is expected to bring opportunities as well as challenges. The World Bank has forecast that the demographic shift will position Thailand as “a provider of services to the growing elderly population across the region”.
In this context, The Aspen Tree and Baycrest aim to share their expertise to improve quality of life for older adults in Thailand and act as a thought leader and source of information.
About Baycrest
Baycrest is a global leader in geriatric residential living, healthcare, research, innovation and education, with a special focus on brain health and aging. As an academic health sciences center fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, Baycrest provides an exemplary care experience for aging clients combined with an extensive clinical training program for students and one of the world’s top research institutes in cognitive neuroscience. Through its commercial and consulting arms, Baycrest takes its sought-after expertise, education and innovations to other healthcare organizations and long-term care homes, both in Canada and internationally. Founded in 1918 as the Jewish Home for the Aged, Baycrest continues to embrace the long-standing tradition of all great Jewish healthcare institutions to improve the well-being of people in their local communities and around the globe.
About Baycrest Global Solutions
Through its strategic relationship with Baycrest, one of the world’s top academic health sciences centers in aging and brain health, Baycrest Global Solutions Inc. helps healthcare providers deliver the best in geriatrics programming, therapies, education and technologies.
About The Aspen Tree
The Aspen Tree is a Thailand-based specialist in services and living communities for older adults dedicated to achieving global best practice. Established by international property developer Magnolia Quality Development Corporation Limited (MQDC), The Aspen Tree has a founding commitment to ‘lifetime care’ and ‘aging in place’, giving older adults the security of continued support. Through collaborations with global leaders, The Aspen Tree’s ‘full-spectrum’ services will combine specialist care and lifestyle amenities to provide the highest quality of life along with the finest healthcare. The Aspen Tree’s launch community will be at The Forestias, a 119-acre mixed-use development at Bangna on the outskirts of Bangkok, where residents will live amid extensive green spaces in a neighborhood with a multitude of on-site leisure healthcare, retail, work, and cultural facilities. Under MQDC’s commitment ‘for all well-being’, The Aspen Tree operates with concern for human and environmental well-being. The Aspen Tree also embraces the MQDC principle of ‘sustainnovation’, applying insights from psychology and other research fields to supply unmet social needs through innovative technology.
Media Contact:
Michelle Petch Gotuzzo
Baycrest
416-785-2500 ext. 6932
mpetchgotuzzo@baycrest.org