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

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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