The generation born during a period of high birth rates between 1946 and 1964 has influenced the culture in many ways. The oldest members of the “baby boomers” are around 60, and in a few years many of them will retire. As this generation ages, the demand for long term care services will increase.
Rose Marie Fagan, executive director of the Pioneer Network, which “advocates and facilitates deep system change and transformation in our culture of aging,” says baby boomers are already influencing long term care as they provide for their parents. Writing in the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle about a movement to promote alternatives to traditional, institutional care, Fagan says:
In the last decade, the movement has grown to be a force in long-term care, influencing key public policy decision-makers and modifying the regulatory system in important ways. Yet crossing the next frontier requires that the consumer’s voice be heard in ever greater numbers in order to raise expectations of what we want for our loved ones and for ourselves.
The new culture of aging is about something much broader than changing nursing homes into true homes. It is about people coming together to define what aging means in our community. And it is about transforming what it means to be an older person in our society. As a microcosm, the traditional nursing home mirrors societal attitudes about aging, death, dying and what we value and devalue in our society. The Pioneer Network and Almost Home ask us to bear witness to the pervasive denial of aging in our society, and to recognize the possibility for new growth and relationships among the frailest and least advantaged among us, elders and caregivers alike.
The Pioneer Network site is worth a look, although I’m a little fuzzy on exactly what they advocate. Thinking about long term care services for aging baby boomers now will help solve problems in the long run.