On this edition of Journal: the complexities and needs of our aging population.
I’m a baby boomer and to this day, I am astounded that institutions never saw us coming. With at least five years’ warning before this population boom hit the school system, it seemed to be a surprise when we all arrived – not enough desks, not enough classes, not enough schools.
But that bureaucratic “miss” is nothing compared to what we face today, as these same baby boomers age. Who knew?
Who knew boomers would need more and more complex healthcare as they got older?
Who knew that it would become harder and harder for some seniors to pay rising rents on a fixed income, leading to an increase in homelessness for those over 55?
Who knew that, along with longer lifespans, there would be a commensurate demand for those not able to take care of themselves – a demand for long-term care beds and assisted living services?
Well, here we are – and now we know.
According to British Columbia’s Seniors Advocate, we need at least 5,000 new long term care beds, as the waitlist for seniors needing these beds has grown by 200% in the last ten years.
And this shortage becomes a chokepoint for our entire healthcare system. Hospital beds are often occupied by someone ready to be released from acute care, but can’t until a long-term care bed is available. Then the E.R. gets backed up because a patient that should be admitted to a hospital bed has to stay in the hall of the emergency department because there isn’t an open bed upstairs.
Sounding the alarm on this issue, as well as ageism, is Dan Levitt, our province’s Seniors Advocate.
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