Senior Living Meets Global Aging

I recently attended an educational session that took an interesting approach to the future challenge of senior living and global aging. I shared an overview of the session with the Seniorsfirst board of governors as a mini-education item within our regular agenda.

I thought my Blog readers might enjoy the innovative and informative perspective as well. I'll break it down into 3 parts for you:

1. Global Aging
2. "Nana" Technology
3. The "Next Generation" of Senior Housing

Part 1: Every 8 seconds a U.S. baby boomer turns 60. There are 78 million of us born between 1946-1964. The U.S. population of age 85+ is expected to double from 4.3 million (2000) to 8.5 million (2030), then double again to 18.2 million (2050).

• 1900 U.S. census recorded 3,536 people age 100+
• 2050 U.S. census estimates 834,000 people age 100+

Global aging will affect us long before global warming!

So here are two questions we should be asking:

1. Who will take care of them?
2. Where will they live?

You should also know that 80% of current senior care is provided by 34 million unpaid "caregivers" (family or friends). But this informal structure of care giving is collapsing as you read this.

• Time: dual-working spouses means less care giving time
• Proximity: 20% of family caregivers live an average of 480 miles away
• Energy: If your Mom is 100..............how old are you?

You should also know that there is a growing professional caregiver labor shortage to meet the growing demand.

• 35 million more jobs of any kind than people to fill them by 2030
• 2 million long-term care nurses and nurses aides today, 6 million needed by 2050

So what is the answer you might be asking? Well fortunately, there may be some answers to mitigate the issue:

1. Congregate staffing: we need to group available workers in facility-based environments to produce efficient use of available labor force. Should home-care be a right or a privilege? There is a good cost reason why the government doesn't fund "home-schooling".
2. "Nana" technology: utilize technology that allows seniors to remain independent longer and/or make congregated labor more productive.
3. Congregate housing: create housing models where seniors want to live!

Part 2: "Nana" technology is unofficially defined as microchip-based technology designed, intended, or that can be used to improve quality of life for older adults. There are real examples of such technology that are currently in development or study and that will have a significant impact on care giving in the future.

• Magic Medicine Cabinet- face recognition and voice communication that will take blood pressures, monitor vital signs, maintain medical history, remind and dispense medications.
• Smart Shoes: monitors balance deficits and signals the brain to adjust accordingly. A recent pilot study resulted in 73-year olds having same balance as 23-year olds.
• GPS Xplorer Shoe: tracks within 30 feet anywhere on planet. So a caregiver can be miles away and receive a notification if a loved one wanders outside of their established routine.
• Virtual Dinner Window: a large picture frame hangs on the wall next to your dining room table where a family is enjoying dinner and conversation along with grandma, who appears to right beside them but is actually miles away.
• Smart Shirt: a lightweight t-shirt that monitors vital signs and conducts safety monitoring. A version is being tested that can actually perform CPR when vital signs indicate. Now when you are told to make sure you're wearing your good underwear, you'll want to do it!
• Ri-Man Robot: can "see, hear and smell" and currently lifts up to 90 pounds. Next phase to be designed for assistance to Japanese elderly.

Part 3: By 2050, there will be more than 2 billion people in the world over the age of 60...............and every one of them will be a unique individual. Baby Boomers will change the face of senior housing and long-term care just like they have done at every other juncture of their life.

Before Boomers, there were 3 flavors of ice cream.........now there are a thousand!

Before Boomers, there was Coke and Pepsi...........now just within the cola's there's regular cola, diet cola, cola one, vanilla cola, cola with a twist of lime and on and on!

Boomers want individual choice and variety. They will demand the same when it comes to senior housing and long-term care. And by the way, Boomers are not attached to their homes forever, nor do they want to live alone. They have never been alone!

• Boomers created large suburbs
• Boomers attended large high schools
• Boomers graduated from large universities
• Boomers worked for large companies
• Boomers will move & live together if offered the housing choices they desire

So what are the new "flavors" of senior housing and long-term care?

• "Culture Change" nursing homes: the new wave is smaller residential household communities that do away with the current medical model and instead focus on resident centered & directed care in a more home-like setting.
• Housing for different cultures: an example is Aegis Gardens in Freemont, California where all 50 staff speak Mandarin, Cantonese or Japanese and features Asian cuisine, architecture, activities and customs.
• Housing of "different orientations": Rainbow Vision in Santa Fe, New Mexico is dedicated to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender older adults. It features the Billie Jean Fitness center, Truman Capote Dining Room and Drag Queen Bingo.
• Housing "at Home": Beacon Hill Village in Boston, Massachusetts resides in the heart of one of America's oldest neighborhoods with convenient access to shopping, transportation, banking, eateries within the area and home health services provided if needed.
• "On the road" housing: Rainbow's End RV Park offers 42 sites with wheelchair ramps and assisted living services and health care services via a home health agency.
• Housing for "Alums": More than 100 communities open or in development that are university based retirement communities. Residents gain access to classes, athletics, arts & library while universities retain alumni relations and donors.
• "S.S. Assisted Living": An 89 year-old widow living on the QE2 since 2000 and will visit 41 cities, 25 countries, 5 continents in one year! Provides all housekeeping, meals and activities at a cost similar to the average assisted living facility. Three cruise ship companies establishing "Residential Ships" for retirees by 2010.
• A real "niche" community: In Pasco County, Florida (the nudist mecca of North America) nudists are planning an assisted living facility. There are an estimated 50,000 nudists in the U.S with a median age of 55. If they haven't been wearing clothes all their life, why should they start when they grow old? (that's a rhetorical question, you really don't need to answer!).

In the nest two decades, individuals age 65 and older will come to represent 1 out of every 5 U.S. citizens. They will be ready to embrace new technology, new forms of retirement and new forms of senior housing and long-term care communities.........................Will we be ready for them!

Thanks for visiting my Blog. I'm taking a short summer vacation up at the cottage in the Adirondacks on Indian Lake in conjunction with the July 4th holiday week. I'll share some pictures and more thoughts upon my return.