The Future of Longevity is Being Written in Southwest Florida
The Shady Rest Institute on Positive Aging serves as a regional hub to connect faculty, staff, and students from across academic disciplines at FGCU with community organizations in a unified purpose of supporting longevity in Southwest Florida through education, service, research, and advocacy.
Four Key Areas of Focus:
Workforce Development
Supporting the educational and professional development of individuals with a focus on working alongside older adults and their families.
Community Engagement
Engaging in community-based education and service opportunities in collaboration with our local agency partners.
Translational Research
Investigating issues most important to our older adult population in order to provide data that supports the creation and refinement of solutions.
Policy & Advocacy
Using the best available data to advocate for meaningful policies and legislation targeting the needs of older adults.
Achieving Longer, Healthier Lives
A rapidly growing body of research, medical breakthroughs, and technological innovation is enabling people to live longer, healthier, and more independent lives than ever before. This shift is reshaping expectations about aging and accelerating demand for communities that support quality of life across the lifespan.
This moment presents a unique opportunity for Southwest Florida to lead nationally by organizing around a shared healthspan goal and acting as a coordinated regional system rather than a collection of disconnected efforts. FGCU's Shady Rest Institute on Positive Aging laid critical groundwork and convened partners across healthcare, education, philanthropy, government, workforce, housing, and community organizations to establish a Southwest Florida Healthspan Partnership focused on extending healthspan across the five-county region.
