Aging at Home

Posted on | October 10, 2007 | Comments Off on Aging at Home

Is our technology up to the task?

As we enter into the presidential election season, the nation’s attention will be focused more tightly on our health care future — we hope. If the candidates are up to the challenge, 2008 presents an opportunity to address long-simmering issues. High on their radar screen should be this question: How are we going to provide adequate care for the rapidly increasing ranks of the aging?

It’s time to face the facts: People are living longer, grappling with more chronic diseases, and looking nervously at skyrocketing health care costs as they age. An army of family caregivers is being called upon to help; but the strains are starting to show.

Our current health care infrastructure is not even close to being able to accomodate the projected needs of our aging populations, leading me to conclude that a massive shift in our thinking is needed. In this special Story of the Week presentation, we’re combining an article on this subject from the Health Politics archive, along with a video I helped produce recently called "Imagine: the Future of Aging." The article is the first in a series we plan to re-issue this fall that looks closely at the concept of what I call Home-Centered Health Care, and the video illustrates the concept perfectly. In the video, introduced by actor Jeff Bridges, you’ll meet a fictional family of the future that is able to cope with the challenges of an aging parent, thanks to technology. To watch it, just click on the video image embedded with this blog post.

The good news is that most of this technology is already here, or at our fingertips. It’s now up to our national leaders now to take a good hard look at this issue — which will have a much heavier impact than most people realize.

Please take a few moments to read this week’s special transcript and then watch this very entertaining and engaging video — you’ll enjoy it.

Mike Magee

Transcript

This week’s special transcript, "Home Centered Health Care: Part 1," is from the Health Politics archives