It is estimated that in the year 2050–just 35 years from now–more than 20 percent of the world’s population will be age 65 or older. In Japan, this problem will be especially profound as the elderly population already accounts for 25 percent of the population. Here, it’s expected that the number of elderly people will go up to about 40 percent. As they are already where the rest of the world is headed, that makes Japan a good place for testing out how technology can help seniors receive better care.
This creates a lot of questions, but the biggest one is how do we care for this large number of elderly people on a human level? Each one of these people is an individual with a family, with wants and needs, with likes and dislikes, and each has a unique personality. Many countries will struggle to meet the growing demand, and hopefully, the United States will not be one of these. There is already a growing infrastructure for senior care in place, it just needs to keep expanding. Luckily, many state governments have realized that the old models were bulky and expensive and didn’t provide top level care to the people it was intended to help. There’s been a shift toward instituting in-home care programs at the state level for both Medicare and Medicaid recipients, but more work needs to be done for this to prove successful. Steps are currently being taken.
It’s likely that the people helping care for elderly parents right now will be finding themselves in need of senior care around this time period. A 35 year old right now who is helping an elderly parent get ready for enjoying their retirement and planning out their senior care will be 70 in 2050, and probably be in need or about to start thinking of how senior care can best help them.
Think about the tools that you are using right now to help your parent. You probably use a computer, maybe you are using apps on your smartphone or iPad, and you are probably familiar with video chat systems. All of these things, or variations of them, will be helpful when you are in need of senior care. Computers help you research care services, the apps on your phone or tablet allow you to plan schedules so medications aren’t missed, make lists of necessary tasks, find doctors, and many other things. Video chat is already being used to help doctors stay in touch with elderly patients; this will only grow in popularity in the future.
In Japan, they are planning on handing out millions of iPads loaded with apps designed to help senior citizens. The difference between the current generation of seniors and those that are going to be around in 35 years is the fact that future seniors will have grown up with these tech items and be more familiar with them. It will be easier for care to be administered through them. But for now, if care can effectively be improved, future generations will have many of the kinks ironed out to make life easier later on.
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