“Suicide Rates are High and Rising Among Older Adults in the US” was the impetus for this article. Suicide is not the answer. We can do better. But not all age-related problems are this discrete and shocking…It’s time that we are more shocked and we act accordingly.
As a longevity strategist, I primarily work with large organizations. When I do strategy sessions with families, I consistently have the same observations.
1) Ageism is killing us.
A lack of positive lifelong socialization around aging from family and friends (“How do I do ‘Aging’?” “Why are you sitting with the old people?” “Ugh, this makes me feel so old!”), combined with the constant negative messages from society, make older adults, their families, and their communities view aging as undesirable, repels us from dealing with it, and can create resistance to being involved in it.
Segregating by age is harmful to all ages. Living alone can make life extra-challenging. And research shows that isolation can cause significant physical and psychological damage, and be financially costly as well. But what options exist that people will actually embrace in today’s society, one built on rugged individualism and the norm of adult generations living separately? Over 90% of older adults live in private homes, not senior communities or facilities. Many of them live alone and struggle to get the services and supports they need to successfully age in place. In New York State alone, there is a waiting list of over 20,000 people for long term services and supports. How long can they wait? and in what conditions?
Some people live in #seniorhousing or senior care facilities. These can be great options, a) IF you want to live there, b) IF you can afford to live there, and c) IF there is enough staff to provide the level of care you need. Sadly, both in facilities and in private homes we are facing a caregiving shortage that is not being recognized as what it truly is: the early stages of a national humanitarian crisis.
While we wait for more options to be created, and for greater acceptance of existing atypical options (like #homesharing, #co-housing, friends living together, and #multigenerationalhouseholds), people need to conduct informed cost-benefit analyses of their options. Area Agencies On Aging, #healthcareproviders, #financialplanners, #eldercareattorneys, #caremanagers, and #employers can all help with this. In my work, I find that a) few older adults and their families know about or use these resources (even those that are free), and b) that more professionals should be trained in understanding the aging-related needs of the clients they serve.
Change leaders like Dr. Bill Thomas and Ashton Applewhite, movements like Ageism Is Never In Style® led by Jacynth Bassett , and programs like #ReframingAging from the The National Center to Reframe Aging are successfully working to give us a different paradigm. Do you know about them? How are you incorporating their messages in your work?
2) Older adults need emotional support and guidance to navigate the changes they are experiencing.
Especially those with a diagnosis of #dementia or a degenerative illness. How do you make sense of what is happening to you and process the emotions? But people can’t benefit from help if it doesn’t exist, it isn’t accessible, or it is not desirable. What are we doing to make this something older people can access and that they will actually embrace? We must normalize and promote emotional support for challenging aging issues. How can you do so in your work?
3) Caregiving is overwhelming.
Whether an adult daughter navigating work, parental care, and even child care, often responsible for two households (hers and her parent’s), or an older adult caring for their spouse or partner, caregiving is at least a part-time job timewise, is challenging logistically (“How do I go to work and take Dad to the doctor?” “How do I get my husband to the doctor when I can’t help him get in and out of the car?”), and takes emotional, physical, and financial tolls. Take a look at how caregivers are impacted: https://www.cdc.gov/aging/caregiving/caregiver-brief.html What are you doing to help your employees, clients, etc., who are caregivers?
4) Aging is Expensive.
Particularly if you are a woman. Women can expect to pay significantly more than men for long term care. Why? A woman will live longer with chronic health conditions, and she typically has one less potential caregiver than a man (i.e., if she doesn’t have a wife to care for her).
In addition, older women receive about 80% of the retirement income that older men receive, mirroring the gender wage gap for women vs. men. These rates are more significant for women of color, women with disabilities, and single women, keeping in mind that a woman may belong to several or all of these categories.
Caregiving has a significant negative impact on women’s retirement preparedness according to a study by the National Institute on Retirement Security. Over her lifetime, a woman’s lost income due to caregiving is estimated to be over $330,000 and she may care for any or all: children, aging parents, and her husband or partner.
As the The New York Times series #DyingBroke examined, even when people have significant #retirementsavings, the high costs of #longtermcare can eliminate their savings making them reliant on #medicaid and/or their adult children’s assets–both financial and actual caregiving.
While I have consulted on major projects like the design of the US’s first elder-focused ER, my best case study is the design of my own mother’s home as a means for her to maintain her physical and financial independence with age, and to prevent or delay her move to a care facility. It was designed and built for her when she was 80, already nearly 30 years a widow and living with chronic conditions and limited mobility. I’m proud to say that simple and thoughtful design features enabled her to live with minimal #homehealthcare, significant caregiving on my part, and successfully delayed a move to a facility by 5-7 years. This enabled her to live in her home of choice and maintain relationships with nearby family, and reduced her need for home care and made the provision of in-home care easier. The multi-year delay represents a savings of $500,000 to over $1 million which also benefited her local community, the federal government, her #financialadvisor, and her heirs. How could this approach positively impact older adults you know?
5) Being older (particularly if you’re alone) is overwhelming.
How do I navigate the hyper-complexities of modern life? How many streaming platforms, passwords, subscriptions, insurances, utilities, medications, etc., do I need to contend with? Especially in a world that is not designed to enable me to thrive with age, but can actually #disablebydesign because our society fails to be inclusive of the lifespan and ability span. We have designed a world that creates #forcedfrailty and in some cases #evictionbydesign–forcing us to move from our home to a facility, because the design of the house, neighborhood, and services does not respect age-related needs and abilities.
How are your products, services, websites, places, programs, and policies working for people as they age? How are you meeting the needs of your older clients, employees, patients, or citizens?
Dis-abling people by design is preventable when we educate ourselves about real people’s actual needs and abilities and respond with places, products, protocols of care, programs, and policies that enable people of all abilities and ages to THRIVE…then we collectively THRIVE and can actually minimize many of societies significant challenges…my mother’s case study is a great example, and the basis for Silver To Gold Strategies “Tackling the Caregiving Crisis by Design” initiative.
To learn more about this, and the Enabling Design Approach, visit https://silvertogoldstrategies.com/
#longevityeconomy #enablebydesign #ageismisneverinstyle #ageismbydesign #suicideprevention #abilitynotdisability #aging #financialplanning #ltss #eap #assistedliving #localgov #retirementsolutions #absenteeism #presenteeism #longtermcare