‘Silver Tsunami’ Forum on Senior Care to be Held Tomorrow

ThinkstockPhotos-114274005BREWSTER – A forum on what some advocates have dubbed the “Silver Tsunami” will take place Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. at First Parish Brewster.

Policy Advocate Suzanne Wall described it as a “care crisis.” She said there’s a gap in the number of caregivers who are prepared to handle the number of seniors who will need care.

“There’s a new senior every eight seconds,” Wall said of the increasing over-65 demographic. “We know that 90 percent of Americans want to live in their own homes as long as possible, but there are not enough families of power to provide that care.”

Wall predicted there may be a need for as much as a million additional caregivers by the end of this decade.

Wall will lead discussions at the forum, along with home care worker leader Rosario Luz.

In addition, Wall said a group of activists will be present, in defense of the homecare workers themselves.

She said these people are often paid in “poverty wages,” with no benefits.

Comments

  1. Silver Tsunami. A tsunami is a destructive force of nature. I certainly would not want an advocate or the media seeing human beings as a tsunami just because they are old and in need of help. Would it be appropriate to refer to those with autism as the autism tsunami?

    Secondly, this appears to be a forum for paid caregivers of the elderly. Again, I would not want to hire an employee who thinks of their bread and butter as a tsunami. It is a reflection on the type of care I can expect to receive.

    Older people do want to remain in their homes. We also want good caretakers. We prefer family members and would like to see our family members who help us to be compensated for doing so. We would also like for our family members to not have to choose between their jobs and helping us.

    If we have to hire care, we want a certain kind of worker and are happy to pay for it to be done well.

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