Harmonizing Long-Term Care Issues

The challenge America now faces is the number of people reaching retirement will double in number by 2030, and the U.S. population will increase almost 20 percent ("Our Aging Nation," 2015). The goal is for the elderly to maintain and live with independence and dignity, as well as, provide a wide range of professional health and social service expertise, home care, and residential support and services that will be needed ("Our Aging Nation," 2015). Since the number of caregivers needed for this population will not be able to meet the demands other resolutions are considered necessary.

In the U.S, one in four will be aged 60 years and older by 2050 (U.S. Census Bureau). This represents an overwhelming number of people who will either be in the caretaker role or be the ROC. Like today, most of the care will be provided by informal unpaid caregivers. The number of informal unpaid caregivers is expected to rise from 20 million in 2000 to 37 million in 2050 (Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation [ASPE], 2003). Because of the burden of care giving, many caregivers will experience depression, poor health and quality of life (Etters, Goodall, & Harrison, 2008). Their well-being is an important public health concern.

One thing every living organism has in common on this planet-- age. No one wants to age or face the fact that aging is inevitable. However, since it’s impossible to beat the never ending time clock that is life; everyone wants to be as comfortable as possible when age finally does catch up with them. When the majority of people think of comfortability in old age, they think of living in their own homes and being surrounded by their loved ones. Not many individuals want to be placed into a nursing home type facility because they can’t imagine themselves being comfortable that way. Nonetheless, even though being placed in a home does take away some of an elderly person’s independence, usually the independence lost is in activities that person can no longer do for themselves. Indeed, nursing homes do have their own set of scary stories behind them; life lost, independence lost, and privacy lost, yet many of those stories are outdated. Upon investigation, it would be easy for anyone to scare themselves out of a nursing facility due to the stories that are out there. Yet, upon even further research people would be able to see how far the United States has come in their development and evolution of nursing care facilities. The care of the elderly in the form of nursing homes has faced a tough evolution starting off with a harsh past, to what nursing homes are like now, and what people can expect for the future of these homes.

More and more people will need care in old age, and if they are disabled. Millions of Americans suffer from a chronic illness, or some kind of disability, and many of these people will have limits in their daily activities. Some people experience

After reading The Age of Dignity by Ai-Jen Poo, I realize that she brings out many good concerns and information about where our country is heading in the upcoming years. Throughout her book we discuss our golden years and the care that we should be able to receive and how crucial it is for our personal wellbeing, independence, and securing our own futures. The 85 plus age group is one of the fastest growing demographics in the US and Poo talks about the possible solutions that need to be created in our infrastructure before we have an even bigger crisis on our hands. It’s a fact that the elderly baby boomers cohort is growing faster than we can care for them, this shows that we need to implement a new system that will be able to care and support our many elders in their life, and how we can do it with financial competency and dignity.

Many people are living longer and sometimes the elderly are unable to take care of themselves and will depend almost 100% on the care of others. The U.S as with many other developed countries must find ways to cope and address this shift in demographics. John Beard, the department head of Ageing and Life Course in World Health Organization stated with the rapid aging of populations, finding the right model for long-term care becomes more and more urgent. Recent records from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimates that about 12 million men and women who are over the age of 65 will need long term care by the year 2020. Furthermore, a study done by the U.S Department of Health and Human Services stipulates that four out of 10 people who will reach the age of 65 will stay in a nursing home at some point in their lives.

According to the Administration on Aging, people age 65 and older currently represent 12.9% of the population of the United States as of 2009, with that number expected to double in the next 15 years (Administration on Aging, 2014). Along with the continued rise in the population of older adults comes an increased need for services specifically addressing the needs of this population. Despite the increasing needs for services for older adults, seniors are among the most overlooked and underserved populations in the United States.

Even though long-term organizations are creating new services, many individuals continue to lack the quality of care they deserve and because of that Congress is stepping in. “As Congress and the Obama administration consider broad-based health reform, efforts to restructure long-term care are taking on greater urgency and policy experts have put forward several reform plans aimed at improving access to care“(Gleckman, 2009).

Acute care and long-term care are both continuum care, but there are many differences between these types of facilities. When people are severely injured or ill, they seek treatment at an acute care facility. “Acute care is medical care designed to treat and/or cure an acute condition, for example, a heart attack or stroke” (http://eldercarehelper.com, 2016). Acute care facilities usually release patients before the 30th day and treatment is provided by a physician. In long-term is provide for patients that need continuum care, but less intensive treatment. “Long-term care facilities offer medical care to patients who need…less intensive level then that provided at an acute care facilities” (Gartee, 2011). The patients usually stay longer

Will mom or loved one receive better care at home or in a nursing home? This is a hard choice to make, but which is the best? In this paper, it examines the efficiency of home care programs, assisted living and long-term care programs. It examines the care and cost of the different programs with respect. The decision of whether or not to place an aging parent (or a loved one) into a long-term care facility, or to try and to keep them in their own home or yours is one that many American families are facing each day. Factors in dealing with this decision are too numerous to count, but we will address a few of them in the following paper, like the

We can’t purport to have a national goal to “eliminate health disparities” and continue to accept the social inequities that come from such a major gap in wealth. If we hope to solve the pressing issues of eldercare, these inequities must be addressed head on now and in the future. Otherwise, those who are caregivers now may not have access to the care they will need in the future.

Long-term care or nursing home was used by someone requiring help with physical and emotional needs, etc. The role of informal caregivers like family and friends are to help those less fortunate than themselves. In the past, there were several generations living under the same roof of the informal caregivers. (Pratt)(2016), “There are several types of services that makeup the institutional and nonistitutional care.” (p20) (Pratt)(2016), “Institutionalized cares are mainly the nursing care, assisted living care, subacute care and housing services because these are in a facility.”

Historically, family and fictive kin have been the chief providers of at home eldercare for older adults in the African American community, instead of institutional care as well, according to Hill (1997). However, increase in future African American aging demographics in the United States is posing new challenges to hold fast to the ethic of caring in the African American tradition of caring for your own. In the second half of the twentieth century, decreased family size, increased educational opportunities, mobility to seek and follow job prospects, relocating to urban communities versus remaining in rural communities, and an increase in life expectancy has some African Americans rethinking institutional placement as an option for their older loved ones or themselves in the future (Groger & Mayberry, 2001). In the past, this would have been considered unthinkable in the African American

Research show that in 2013, over 9.5% of seniors over the age of sixty-five lived in poverty with the percentage increasing as an individual’s age increases (McNeal, 2016). These statistics does not account for the other issues which affects families and caretakers when addressing the well-being of their loved ones and the inadequate access to long term care.

As the life expectancy in the United States rises, the number of elderly in the population has also expanded. These increases have led to the oldest-old (people aged 90 and older) to become the fastest growing age group in the country. The oldest-old face many unique challenges because of their age, one of which is disability. Disability in the elderly has major impact upon society 1 and will continue will be a growing burden in years to come.