Working for the Seniors of Tomorrow?

Fun fact – By 2030, the number of seniors in the 80+ age category will increase by a whopping 79%.?The population of people who would be their likeliest caregivers (aged 45-64) will increase by only 1% in that same period.?Another fun fact – Back in 2010, there were 7 potential caregivers for every senior aged 80+.?By 2050, there will be only 3.?Thank goodness I have two daughters who will be around to help me when I turn 82 that year (although they probably cringe to read this).?

Regardless of the numbers, one thing we know for certain is that there will be more ‘seniors’ and less caregivers than ever before.?As the Baby Boomers age (remember the oldest ones are only 77 this year), we are entering the biggest demographic shift of our time.?These seniors will live longer, have higher expectations for quality of life, fight for independence, and place incredible strain on our health system if we don’t do something different soon to change the trajectory.

June is Seniors Month in Ontario – “Working for Seniors” is the theme.?No doubt there is a laundry list of things we need to be working on now to better support today’s senior population.?But I’ve also been thinking about what “working for seniors” really means in the context of the crushing demand for care heading towards us – what other work needs doing to enable the kind of senior care we want 10-20 years from now??

For one thing, housing needs to work for seniors, especially knowing more than 90% of them want to remain and be cared for at home, however they define that location.?I recently listened to Minister Calandra speak about the need to bring specialized care services to long-term care facility residents (versus having residents transported somewhere else). I totally agree with this philosophy which is?aligned to the mission of home care.?But why stop there??NORCs or Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities are unplanned communities with a higher proportion of older residents aging together quite by coincidence.?Experts agree that NORCs represent an area of untapped potential for creating care circles around communities of seniors, bringing primary care and homecare to them.?Through the emergence of NORCs, we have the opportunity to organize care supports more efficiently and more conveniently for our seniors. Better outcomes, lower total system cost.

Technology needs to work for seniors and meet them where they have challenges to solve.?Smart home technology, companion-bots, and virtual reality devices are a few examples of what might redefine senior aging and independence.?But how will this be funded? And will everyone really have equal access to these kind of innovative care supports??We are also seeing the emergence of case studies documenting trials where passive remote monitoring, combined with data algorithms and early nursing intervention are enabling seniors to remain home longer for care, in safer environments, delaying acute care episodes further, again all at lower total cost to the system.?

Medicine needs to work for seniors – the personalized kind. Catching seniors early in their journey (maybe even before they hit the official ‘senior marker’) can enable intervention for longevity, and higher quality of life.?How do we work on getting access for seniors to even basic primary care that supports wellness versus just treating sickness??

Most importantly though, capacity planning needs to work for seniors.?Where is the provincial health human resource strategy that will ensure we have caregivers in the future to deliver care??We could have the best technology innovation, access to medicine, and housing strategies but if we don’t have people that can provide hands-on care to our seniors who ultimately need help with activities of daily living, it won’t matter.?We are fighting globally for these resources and maybe now is the time to think differently about where and how various types of caregivers can support the aging process.

I’m taking time in June to celebrate all of the seniors in our lives - the incredible gifts they have given us and the stories they have to share with us.?It’s our turn to not only work hard for them today but also for the next generation of seniors who will likely experience even greater care challenges in the face of demographic shifts alone. Theodore Roosevelt once said “Old age is like everything else.?To make a success of it, you’ve got to start young”.?So, let’s get the work started.