There was a fascinating discussion at the JDC Board meetings
the other day about the health of the elderly.
The general feeling, expressed by one of my colleagues, is
that we should be proud of what we've done, and concerned that we’re not doing
enough.
There are huge challenges. The first seems to
be the massive amount of change that is coming up on the horizon. The needs are
going to change as the elderly age through the system, meaning that their needs
are going to get more expensive. This is already well-know and we can see the
implications already in our planning and infrastructure: a 65 year-old’s
package of services is heavily tilted in favor of food. A 75-year old’s package
of services is increasingly medicine-heavy (and medicine is much more expensive
than food). An 85-year old is more reliant on home care (which is more
expensive than medicine, by far).
And so on.
Second is the willingness of governments to
let NGOs come in and do the work. If we want to help the elderly live the kind
of lives we live, and expect to have in the US , we’re going to have to provide
unimaginable levels of support, and that will require massive cooperation with
governments.
And third is the issue of loneliness. So many
of our clients are homebound and lonely. We not only have to provide them with
food, medicine, and homecare.
We have to give them hope and dignity and a sense
of belonging.
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