Immigration has become one of the hot topics in the United States recently. It’s one of the divisive issues that we face, and it is not just cutting a divide between Republicans and Democrats, but also between families.
At this point, I feel I should warn you that this is actually a post about senior care and not about politics. But one of the unfortunate outcomes of politically charged policy is that it does have an impact on people. In this case, this specific policy impacts senior care, even though it does so in an indirect manner.
When it comes to senior care, immigrants play a big role. In 2017, it was estimated that immigrants fulfilled more than 18 percent of the jobs available in the care industry. When it comes to lesser skilled positions, that number is even higher. In nursing homes across the country, about 25 percent of those providing care are immigrants. If you look at those who are working overnight in these positions, immigrants disproportionately step up.
According to Dr. Leah Zallman at the Harvard Medical School, any attempt to limit immigration is going to naturally limit the amount of people who are working in the senior care industry. This isn’t just something that impacts the state of California, but rather a national issue. This sector already has seen struggles to meet the needs of seniors in some communities. Unfortunately, although great strides have been made to help the elderly, this is one of the setbacks that may hinder progress. Senior care has a lot of room for growth, and the more limiting things become on this front, the more that advances in other areas will be needed.
Whatever your political views might be concerning immigration, we have to be cautious because immigrants tend to fill a lot of the positions that are needed to keep our elderly loved ones safe. Like it or not, the senior care industry has heavily relied on this population to keep moving forward. The point of this post wasn’t to say that immigration should not have limits, or that it’s good or bad, but rather to point out one of the difficulties that is ahead of us.
Now, consider the fact that the number of senior citizens in the U.S. is bigger than ever, and growing. In just a few years, it’s predicted that there will be more seniors in need of care than what we currently have senior care workers to cover. That means that even more jobs in this sector will be opening up. And it’s very likely that immigrants will be willing to fill these gaps.
Politics can be divisive and they can even lead to hurt, but we need to set all of that aside. Our families deserve better than that. For now, we need to focus on improving senior care and ensuring that everyone who needs assistance is receiving it. If each of us does his or her part for our families, this issue can be addressed with success.
Leave a Reply