Seniors with disabilities often face a shortage of services that can have a negative impact on the quality of life that they experience.
There’s a big disconnect for some parts of the country when it comes to connecting people with disabilities to the services that they need to thrive. As the number of seniors continues to grow and as care shortages continue to exist, it doesn’t look like this problem is going to go away anytime soon. And this potentially puts our loved ones in a bad situation as they age.
Someone who had no struggles with their health or mobility younger in life can very easily face a difficult disability as they age. One of the realities of aging is that the likelihood of a disability or serious illness goes up significantly as someone ages.
The issue needs to be faced head on. First of all, the need for professional care needs to be recognized by more institutions. This goes both for services that specialize in helping other people and by state and federal policy makers and influencers. There’s a lot of need out there, and not all of it is being met. Unfortunately, there are a lot of seniors that need assistance of some sort but are not receiving it.
It’s not just seniors that are facing this shortage. In fact, depending on where you live, the crisis of a lack of professional services might impact you differently. Some parts of the country are facing crises when it comes to a lack of mental health care providers, senior-friendly housing, medical specialists, and other aspects of health and overall wellbeing. Unfortunately, it is the people that are the most vulnerable that are impacted the most heavily. This includes seniors, young children, disabled people, those that suffer from mental illnesses, and more.
What can you do on your end to help with this?
The most important thing you can do is to focus on what you have control or influence over. More than likely, you can’t create jobs for someone to become a professional caregiver so that they can serve other seniors. However, you can help make decisions now that can help your family. For example, if you have a loved one that might need senior care in the future, looking at what their needs are and identifying care services that might be helpful for them before care is needed could be a very helpful thing.
There’s no guarantee that the service you identify as being the most helpful now will still be the most helpful in three years. Your loved one’s needs might change over time. The ability of the care service to help might change, too. However, planning ahead puts you in a position where you already have a general idea of what is out there and what to look for. You’ve already started the process so that you aren’t starting from scratch, but rather making minor adjustments to it.
If you have questions or need some guidance in this process, we’re here to help. Senior care is what we do. We have a staff of trained professionals with a deep understanding of how getting connected to senior care can help improve someone’s life. If you’re looking for answers, give us a call.
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