The fear of violence against home care aides, nurses, and therapists may be adding to the already-severe shortage of care workers and adding to the burden on family caregivers. In our increasingly aggressive society, home care workers say they are being assaulted by angry and frustrated family members as well as people in the neighborhoods they visit. In some cases, [...]
In December, I wrote about how important it is to get the Covid-19 vaccine to millions of homebound older adults, younger people with disabilities, and their caregivers. It won’t be easy, but here are some ways to build on existing programs and housing arrangements. People with severe chronic disease and functional or cognitive limitations are extremely vulnerable to severe illness [...]
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has put residents and staff of nursing homes and assisted living facilities near the top of the list for receiving a covid-19 vaccine. That is the right call. But public health officials should not forget about the millions of frail older adults living at home who are at risk of dying from [...]
Changes in technology, new government payment models, managed care, and consumer preferences all are shifting services for frail older adults and younger people with disabilities from facilities to home. These models will create new options for consumers and threaten to disrupt the business models of hospitals, traditional nursing homes, and other long-term care facilities. These care models come with a [...]
Nursing homes and other senior living facilities are not the only places where COVID-19 is creating a health care crisis for frail older adults and their care providers. The other setting at risk: private homes, where the vast majority of older adults get both personal and post-acute care. And the pandemic is creating enormous challenges for those seniors, their families, [...]
When we think about older adults in the US, we usually focus on those living in cities or suburbs. By doing so, we forget about the rural elderly, who represent an outsized share of people living in these communities and who have very special challenges. According to a new report by the US Census bureau, about 10.6 million older adults [...]
On Tuesday, voters in Maine will decide whether to create the nation’s first universal public home care benefit for older adults and younger people with disabilities. The hotly debated referendum, Ballot Question 1, would be funded through a surtax on high-income households. The measure was introduced by the Main People’s Alliance and is supported by many progressive and consumer groups. [...]
Most seniors want to age at home rather than move to a senior living facility. But this choice brings many challenges, including the risks of social isolation, limited access to medical care and supportive services, and the potential for falls or other injuries that come from living in a home that is unsafe for a frail older adult. But there [...]
Isolation and loneliness are serious problems for older adults. They become less mobile, their friends and relatives die, hearing loss and other physical limitations make it harder to communicate with others, and seniors are often reluctant to even try to make new friends. Young people, they say, are not interested, and, as for other older people, why bother, they will [...]
As we age, become frail, and need personal assistance, we will increasingly require paid aides to help us with routine daily activities, such as bathing, dressing, or cooking. Demand for those aides will increase by 50 percent over just the next decade, to 3 million. But where will they come from? Aides are poorly paid, have little opportunity for advancement, [...]