Friday August 21, 2020 was World Senior Citizen’s Day. So What?

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World Senior Citizen’s Day was originally founded by former president Ronald Regan in 1988. The goal of this day is to remind  various governments of its “ commitment to support senior citizens of the country”.  Well, I don’t think we have done very well…

Dr. Samir Sinha wrote an article for Toronto Life, titled “ The post-pandemic future: We will stop warehousing older people in care homes”  and highlighted  a number of issues that deserve summarizing:

  • We have more seniors than children yet there are nine times as many pediatricians as geriatricians (note: he estimates that are only 304 geriatricians in Canada)
  • Canada spends 30% less of it is GDP on long term care than comparative industrialized countries
  • Our older residences encourage over crowding with two, three or four persons in a shared room
  • 70% of those living in long term care homes have dementia and of these- 50% have ‘behaviourial’ issues
  • It costs approximately $182 /day for someone in long term care and $103/day for at home care

If we are to provide awareness, I think dignity and respect  have to be the key messages.  The awareness is that this is a challenged group and one that is not upper most in our policy makers/politician’s agendas. This is a group that often finds themselves alone, isolated and forgotten.  COVID certainly brought out the worse of what many seniors fear when considering their care options.  I for one don’t want to end my days in long term care.  I think we need choices and as baby boomers we need to be part of the solution.  I would love to hear your ideas and welcome your feedback.

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