Assisted Living and the Job Shortage

The New York Times recently posted an article titled "How in the World Will We Care for All the Elderly?" A few very important points were brought up here, especially the fact that other nations in the world are experiencing problems in this area than just the U.S. Still, this question does need to be addressed by our healthcare structures if we are going to give our elderly loved ones the level of support that they deserve. It's estimated that there will be around 90,000 extra jobs needed if the elderly population expands in the way that experts believe that it will. This creates a big problem for the healthcare industry, but it is something that can be solved.

Joblessness is currently at a relative low, but at just under 9 percent of the U.S. population, there are still millions of jobs needed to completely revitalize the country. The easy solution here would be to start expanding healthcare, especially elderly healthcare, before this job shortage becomes an even larger problem. The healthcare industry has remained largely immune to the job shortages in the U.S., and it looks like this trend is going to keep going on stronger than before. Regardless of what happens to the economy, we will need many more doctors, nurses, therapists, and caregivers if the population of our country keeps going up. As we age, it only becomes more likely that the median age of our population keeps going up.

The world's population is getting older-this is a hard truth. With an older population comes an increased need for elder care. It is important that this problem be solved before it gets even more out of control. The one factor that many people overlook at first is the fact that there is a high proportion of elderly folk that deal with disability. Worldwide, about 46 percent of people over the age of 60 have some sort of disability. This is a huge number of people, especially considering how many people are over this age currently. With improving technology and medicine, these numbers are going to keep going up every year for quite a while into the future.

Dealing with people that have disabilities requires a more intensive type of care. This is why assisted living is so important. Assisted living facilities have the staff knowledge and numbers to more effectively care for this segment of the population. But unless something changes, this sector of care will also be affected by the job shortage. In order to help your elderly loved ones out as much as possible, you need to start planning ahead. Lining up care for them before this shortage gets out of hand is an easy solution here.