The United States is experiencing a soaring population of seniors. This demographic’s unique needs are leading healthcare organizations and policymakers to implement changes that help seniors overcome challenges associated with aging by ensuring they receive the care and help they deserve. These policies seek to address the barriers typically faced by seniors who choose to age at home. Understanding these barriers is the first crucial step in knowing how to deal with them.
Isolation and Loneliness
One of the most concerning issues for seniors who decide to age in place is isolation and loneliness. Studies have found that a lack of social connections and interpersonal relationships can impact mental, physical, and emotional health. For example, seniors who live alone and experience isolation and loneliness are more likely to suffer from depression and related conditions. As a senior’s needs increase and their ability to retain crucial relationships and connections decrease, the option to age in place becomes less viable.
Several solutions have been proposed to rectify this, including ensuring family and friends visit often, ensuring seniors can stay in touch with the people who are important to them, and assisted living in cases where other options fail. Moving a loved one to assisted senior living in Phoenix can help address the social and interpersonal connections a loved one is missing. Doing so also solves other issues, such as ensuring they have the best healthcare and assistance they need round the clock.
Inaccessible Social Programs
Access to basics like safe housing, food, transportation, social spaces, and home care can make aging in place a much better experience for seniors. However, the resources and services required to ensure this access are typically disjointed. Getting and securing the assistance required to make these services available can also take a lot of energy, time, money, and resources.
One way to solve this issue is loosening eligibility requirements and funding social programs that make these options available. The sad reality is that this type of funding has fallen in recent years, further compounding this issue. However, numerous organizations are stepping up to make them available once again.
Inadequate Support for Family Caregivers
According to a 2020 AARP report, more than 20% of Americans are family caregivers. There are many reasons for this, including how expensive professional home care services can be, seniors, relying on loved ones due to unaffordable homes, and a lack of social services that make in-home care accessible.
As the number of seniors increases, we expect more people to become caregivers if today’s trends continue. The worrying result of this is more people suffering from caregiver burnout. Caregiver burnout is a serious issue for caregivers and their loved ones, and it impacts their health and well-being, and ability to provide high-quality services. It can also impact their loved ones severely.
Caregivers also require some assistance, and it is about time the healthcare system stopped overlooking them. They should also receive additional training to ensure they can provide adequate support as needed.
Although many Americans are choosing to age in place for various reasons, there are concerns surrounding the quality of their lives as they do this. The reason is that there are significant challenges associated with aging in place that could be eliminated to make their experience much better.