The Growing Need For Senior Home Health Care Jobs

Boomers are ageing, and we are happy that we live in a time when we are living longer and we are living healthier. However, in a post a few months ago I discussed the fact that even though we are living longer for most of us, we will spend at least two to three years needing care. There is a problem with that because we do not have enough people trained to look after an ageing senior population. 

In a 2015 report, Future Care for Canadian Seniors: A Status Quo Forecast, the Conference Board of Canada estimated that by 2026 over 2.4 million Canadians age 65 and over will require paid and unpaid continuing care support — up 71 percent from 2011. By 2046, this number will reach nearly 3.3 million. In the US for the first time, people 65 and older will outnumber those 18 and younger in 2030. Indeed, 1 out of every 5 Americans will be at or past retirement age.

Those numbers, from the US Census Bureau, are fairly staggering, and represent some fairly enormous social changes over the last few generations. Better medical care improved awareness of what is and is not healthy, and declining birth rates mean that America is ageing (though slower than Europe or parts of Asia).

When you dive a little deeper, the numbers might really surprise you:

• By 2035, there will be 78 million people 65 and over
• By 2060, that number will jump to 98 million
• By 2060, people 65 and older will make up 24% of the population

This means people are living longer and have more time to explore and learn and live their lives to the fullest. The rate of immigration will keep the US population growing at replacement rates, with the happy outcome of making this country much more diverse.

That being said, of course, an ageing population brings with it its own set of social and economic challenges. A larger problem looms in the medical and health care needs of an ageing population.

There is a growing need for doctors, nurses, and professional caregivers, especially in home-based care. We have a need for committed, compassionate, and professional care that helps older adults live their best lives. Understanding that the market can help younger people find jobs that will be challenging, interesting, fulfilling, and filled with love.

Writing at Quartz, Dan Kopf calls jobs involving the personal care of older adults the “future of employment.” Indeed, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as he points out, says that this will be the fastest area of employment growth from 2016-2026 (and, one can surmise, beyond that, but the latest numbers are through these years).

To back that up, Kopf gave some more impressive numbers. Over the next decade:

• Personal care jobs will grow by 750,000
• Home health aides will grow by 425,000
• These jobs will grow from 2.3 to 3.4 million jobs overall
• These jobs will grow 37% and 37%, respectively, the 3rd and 4th fastest growing jobs in the US

So, it is pretty clear that the ageing population is going to have a direct impact on what work will be like in the future.

This work isn’t all uniform, of course. There are many different jobs, including working at hospitals and at nursing care facilities. But more and more, the bulk of jobs is moving toward senior home health care as the result of cultural and sociological shifts.

In Canada, spending on care for seniors across all 10 provinces will increase from $28.3 billion in 2011 to $177.3 billion in 2046. With two-thirds of this spending provided by governments, spending growth will significantly outpace revenue growth for most provinces.

By 2046, over 11.6 million Canadians will be counted on to provide some level of unpaid continuing care support to seniors.

In the last few decades, we’ve seen a cultural move toward ageing in place. While many nursing care facilities are amazing places staffed with wonderful, dedicated people who work hard to build a true community, more and more people want to stay in their homes or with a loved one in place of starting over.

That’s not easy, of course. While there are programs to help, it can be challenging to age in place. It can be hard to care for yourself, and it can be hard to care for a loved one, especially if you have a full-time job and family of your own.

That’s where a caregiver comes in. Whether you have a full-time caregiver who might specialize in your specific health needs or a part-time one who can come in and handle things like medicine or bandages or basic chores like cooking, caregivers are an enormous help. They are companions and nurses, friends and chefs, someone to talk to and someone to laugh with and someone to lean on. They are people who help older adults age in place, with the comfort and dignity they deserve.

In both Canada and the USA labour demand growth for this sector is projected to far exceed overall labour force growth.

2015 was the first year that home health care in America surpassed nursing care in terms of money spent. That will grow, of course, as the population ages and cultural changes become embedded. And right now, there seems to be a large, perhaps dangerous, shortage of home health care workers.

There are reasons for this. For one, not everyone knows that this is a growing industry. And there are some unfair structural reasons. For one thing, the average pay is low, often under $15 an hour depending on the state. Few jobs come with benefits, and few have consistent hours. That makes people reluctant to take a job.

But that could change. Indeed, the shortage of workers, combined with the growing need, will demand that changes. When labour becomes necessary, wages and benefits go up. It seems almost inevitable.

That’s why not only is this job growing in importance, but as more people realize its importance and the shortage of workers become more apparent, this is a position that will be able to provide a stable and steady income for anyone with the dedication and the heart to take it.

To do so, though, there is a need for home health care. That need is growing, and the profession is changing and getting the esteem and respect it has always deserved. Ideally, wages and other benefits will grow accordingly.

That’s not just a matter of basic economics. It’s not just supply and demand. It comes from recognizing what is important as the nation changes and recognizing what needs to make it happen. That’s why senior home health care jobs are the fastest growing in the country

November is Caregiver month, did you know?

I give workshops on care for the caregivers as well as advocacy for patients and they fill an important role for those charged with caring or advocating for those who need extra help. This post was a result of reading a post by "A Place for Mom" who provides and honours family caregivers.

Here are some things that caregivers and others need to know and remember.

Caregiving is costly. 
According to the National Alliance for Caregiving and the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College about 17% of adult children take care of their parents at some point in their lives. Once they become caregivers, adult children are likely to commit a substantial amount of time, about 77 hours on average each month to look after their relatives. 

For people who provide round-the-clock care, the commitment is even greater. More than 40% of caregivers spend at least $5,000 a year to help pay for transportation, clothing and medical costs, according to a survey by Caring.com, a website that helps pair consumers with caregivers.

Help is available.
If you do decide that your loved one needs more than you alone can provide, A Place for Mom can help as can the following sites:
Next Step in Care

http://www.nextstepincare.org
Next Step in Care provides easy-to-use guides to help family caregivers and health care providers work closely together to plan and implement safe and smooth transitions for chronically or seriously ill patients.
 
Lotsa Helping Handswww.lotsahelpinghands.comLotsa Helping Hands is a free caregiving coordination web service that provides a private, group calendar where tasks for which a caregiver needs assistance can be posted. Family and friends may visit the site and sign up online for a task. The website generates a summary report showing who has volunteered for which tasks and which tasks remain unassigned. The site tracks each task and notification and reminder emails are sent to the appropriate parties.
 
Caring.com
www.caring.comCaring.com is the leading online destination for family caregivers seeking information and support as they care for ageing parents, spouses, and other loved ones. Caring.com offers helpful content, advice from leading experts, a supportive community of caregivers, and a comprehensive directory of eldercare services. Caring.com’s carefully researched and expert-reviewed content includes advice from a team of more than 50 trusted leaders in geriatric medicine, law, finance, housing, and other key areas of healthcare and eldercare.

• Caring.com’s Steps & Stages offers a free guide to Alzheimer’s care. Expert advice and practical tips provided in a Custom Care Guide and e-newsletter help family caregivers learn what to expect, what to do, and how to cope with Alzheimer’s.
• Caring.com also publishes findings from research with family caregivers at http://www.caring.com/about/news.

 
Financial Steps for Caregivers
WISER (Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement)Financial Steps for Caregivers: What You Need to Know About Money and Retirement is designed to help you identify financial decisions you may face as a caregiver. The decision to become a caregiver can affect both your short-term and long-term financial security, including your own retirement. For more information on planning for a secure retirement, please visit http://www.wiserwomen.org.
 
National Transitions of Care Coalitionwww.NTOCC.orgThe last concern most individuals have when they or their loved ones are dealing with a health situation is ensuring effective communication between their doctors, nurses, social workers and other healthcare providers. However, poor communication between well-intentioned professionals and an expectation that patients themselves will remember and relate critical information that can lead to dangerous and even life-threatening situations. NTOCC has brought together industry leaders who have created resources to help you better understand transitional challenges and empower you as part of the care giving team.
 
Family Caregiver Alliance
http://caregiver.org/node/3831Established in 2001 as a program of Family Caregiver Alliance, the National Center on Caregiving (NCC) works to advance the development of high-quality, cost-effective policies and programs for caregivers in every state in the country. Uniting research, public policy and services, the NCC serves as a central source of information on caregiving and long-term care issues for policymakers, service providers, media, funders and family caregivers throughout the country.
 
Caregiver Action Network
http://www.caregiveraction.org/
Resources from the Caregiver Action Network, including a Peer Forum, a Story Sharing platform, the Family Caregiver Tool Box and more. CAN also provides support for rare disease caregivers at http://www.rarecaregivers.org

Knowledge can make your job easier.
A National Alliance for Caregiving survey found that  44% said that reading books about caregiving and visiting supportive websites helps them not only to manage their daily frustration but also gives them a sense of community. 

You are America’s #1 long-term care provider.
Family caregivers provide a staggering 90% of long-term care in America. (The National Academy of Medicine)

Your work is valuable.
The value of the unpaid care these 65 million caregivers provide is estimated to be worth $375 billion. (National Alliance for Caregiving)

You are not alone.
More than 65 million Americans care for their ageing or disabled loved ones on a yearly basis. (National Alliance for Caregiving)

you can take a break.
Just because you’ve committed to caring for a parent or senior loved one doesn’t mean you can’t take a break. Respite care is short-term care, lasting anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks, that can be provided at a local senior living community or even in the home. Adult daycare is another similar option. These services allow family caregivers to “recharge” with the knowledge that their loved one is safe and sound.

You have limits.
Despite the demonstrated perseverance and strength of family caregivers, each of us has limits. It’s important to recognize when our loved one has declined to a point that professional care is the best option.

You have someone to talk to.
Caregiver support groups meet throughout the U.S. For those caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, the Alzheimer’s Association maintains a database of support groups. General caregiving support groups that aren’t specifically focused on memory loss can be found by contacting your local hospital. Furthermore, there are many online support groups for caregivers.

You have to care for yourself first.
This is one of the most important things to remember. If you’re not keeping yourself happy and healthy, it’s doubtful that you will be able to do your best for your parent or senior loved one. Review the “Caregiver Bill of Rights” and remember to take care of yourself.

Keeping Your Brain Young

One good telltale of our real age is our mental capacity. We expect that as we become grandmas and grandpas, our intellectual performance can never be the same with its prime years. But why does this happen? And what can we do to avoid thinking like we are old-aged already?

THE PROCESS OF AGING

Our neurons are non-regenerative. That means they do not divide to reproduce more of its kind. Once they die, they can’t be replaced by another one. As we age, these brain cells of ours start to reduce in size and in number. This reduces our ability to call to mind some things that we have learned, including those in school, and even those details when we were younger. 

A neurotransmitter called acetylcholine also declines as we age. This neurotransmitter is directly involved in memory and conveying of messages from a cell to another one. Moreover, because of the stresses that we have, the hippocampus, our memory bank, diminish in function. 

As we get old also, we develop plaques and tangles that accumulate between and within neurons, respectively. Plaques are proteins that mount up in between neurons while tangles are fibers that grow within the brain cells. Too much of these two are thought to kill nerve cells, like in Alzheimer’s Disease, an age-related disease. 

In addition to this, substances are created as a result of our lifestyle and environmental pollution. These substances called free radicals can damage our DNA and impede the production of energy which can cause early cell death. 

STAY SHARP

To delay the signs of ageing with regards to our mental capability, we should make a number of things a habit. 

As they say, stress is inevitable in everyday life because we need it to overcome large and small obstacles. But, of course, stress has a lot more negative effects than good ones. So, avoid too much stress. According to some studies, stress does not only make you look older, it also accelerates the degeneration of your brain.

Those who are easily stressed have higher risks to cognitive impairment than those who are not. You should examine yourself and determine the best ways in which you can cope with the obstacles of the day. Praying is one of the best examples. Planning ahead of time can reduce possible stress. An hour of it can even reduce two hours of your working time.

To stay sharp, one must also have adequate sleep. A new research in Massachusetts General Hospital shows that adequate sleep can help you think well. Adequate sleep helps the brain collect different bits of information and have the correct interpretation of them. On the contrary, if you sleep less than the required number, you would most likely have a bad performance and mood problems. 

Another thing we should regularly do to preserve our brain functions is to meditate. Doing it actually improves attention, learning, and memory. Regular meditation can also help you slow down the shrinking of our gray matter. For the younger ones, a thought of it is quite ridiculous because meditating is just for the oldies. But a new study has shown that people who meditate earlier in life have better attention in their succeeding years.

I can’t end without mentioning about eating right. It is true when they say that an apple a day can make you okay. Apples are rich in flavonoids that help protect the brain cells from free radicals. These fruits also contain a good number of antioxidants that do not only make your skin look young, it also raises the levels of the neurotransmitter called acetylcholine that diminishes as we age.

Alternatives To Gift Baskets

When searching for the perfect gift for one of your family members or even one of your friends there is usually a whole lot of pressure to buy the right thing simply because you don't want to disappoint anyone. There are times when you just don't know what to buy, and everyone has those experiences as well. Some people choose to take their time when buying gifts while others like myself, try to get it done as quickly as possible. I have, when buying for a person who has everything, bought a gift basket. Gift baskets can be good gifts for multiple reasons, the best one, I think, is that your loved one gets a whole bunch of smaller gifts instead of one.

However, some people may consider gift baskets to be some of the most impersonal gifts they could ever get (even less so than cash!) just because it shows that the person who's buying it doesn't really know him or her at all. Gift baskets can be seen as impersonal but they can be made personal. For example, if you know a person likes sports, for example, you could by a sports memorabilia gift basket or other theme based basket.  But if you don't want to buy a gift basket, here are some ideas to check out that can be used as alternatives to gift baskets:

Board Games

Unless you know the person really well and know that he or she doesn't like the thought of board games, buying a board game usually always is something that plenty of people enjoy. Whether you are buying an older game such as Monopoly or buying one of the latest games on the market there are plenty of options in local stores or online. If you don't want to buy a gift basket then you board games can be used as one alternative to gift baskets!

Gift Cards

Another alternative is a cash card. Buying a cash or gift cards for your friends and family can be a unique thing to do if you know where the recipient likes to shop. These are a perfect alternative to a gift basket. 

Instead of putting your money into one large basket that may contain a bunch of things that your friends and family dislike, placing all of the money that you'd be spending on the individual on a store gift card is a great idea! Of course, you may just want to include a little bit more money on the gift card than you would have actually spent, but buying gift cards is a great present for someone whom you don't know what to buy.

Of course, there are plenty of other perfect gifts that are great ideas and alternatives to gift baskets. 

Finally, gift baskets can be big, and bulky so buying something that is less cumbersome is a good idea!