Age Out Loud

May is Older Americans Month. The theme this year, established by the Administration for Community Living is Age Out Loud. It encourages wellness, knowing rights, remaining engaged and exploring new things. I like the idea of “exploring new things” and the one I’d suggest we explore the support people need to age-well-in-place. Aging challenges faced by older people throughout history are increasingly complicated as traditional “villages” support has eroded and, for many people, no longer exist. This happened for several reasons, among them: Changes in family size and structure. Families today are smaller and family structures are disrupted. Only 20% of families are once-married couples with children, the remainder are single-parent families and divorced-and-remarried families, often in complicated configurations. In addition, 14 million seniors are “elder orphans,” aging alone with no family. That number will grow, not just because of the size of the Boomer generation but because one-third of Boomers never had children. Mobility. The US is the most mobile country in the world, often separating families geographically:  40% of people move, on average, 676 miles away from where they were raised, and 20% of seniors want to relocate during retirement, often at distances from family who could support them. Employment for women outside the home. Women, traditionally caregivers for others, are now in the workforce and unavailable to provide uncompensated care These...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs