Very recently, the New York Times ran an article about the sparseness of senior healthcare specialists. As most people know by now, the population of those over the age of 65 is growing at a huge rate, and the number of medical and care professionals that specialize in senior health–”geriatricians”–is not keeping pace with the growth. The obvious conclusion from this is that the senior population will not have adequate care in a few years. Hopefully this is something that will be avoided. People are aware of the issue, and steps are being made to correct it. But as of right now, the issue is still ongoing and not yet completely resolved.
If you currently have an elderly loved one, being cautious about the care that you lineup for them is a must. It’s important that we line up good senior care for our loved ones, and it’s important that the appropriate type is found. However, if there are not enough doctors and other specialists out there, care for our elderly will become tougher and tougher to find. We need to avoid this problem at all costs.
Luckily, there are a number of ways to go about doing this. Incentives for doctors to specialize in senior health could help. But of these things, there are only a few things that you personally can do. One is to find the best senior care possible for your loved ones right now. For some, this might be as simple as having a professional in-home caregiver come over and check on them a few times a week. If in-home care isn’t adequate, other measures need to be taken. Check with a physician if you have any questions about what’s need as far as care goes. The sooner that your family’s needs are addressed, the better. With a potential care crisis looming, this becomes even more important.
There are things that will come up in people’s lives that they are unprepared for. When it comes to senior care, this can be especially bad. Things like Alzheimer’s disease, a sudden accident, or the death of a spouse can all send our lives into a whirlwind. At this point, the need for care becomes an emergency and it can sometimes be setup without the proper amount of planning put into it. The sooner you come up with a plan for senior care, the better. It doesn’t need to be a permanent, set in stone, plan. But just having a good idea, one that’s been agreed upon by key decision makers in your family–including the one that will be receiving care–will streamline the process if and when it is needed. Having a plan will also enable you to do a better job of handling a shortage of caregivers and doctors in the event that this becomes a reality. Being aware now and planning around it is a good start to taking control of the situation. You can’t personally increase the number of professionals out there, but you can at least make changes on your end to ensure that your family is loved and well cared for.
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