Hard Choices

The Baby-boomer generation, best known as the “ME” Generation suddenly finds it’s self ever-increasingly confronted with the responsibility of caring for an aging loved one.
In part because many Baby-Boomers waited to have children, often this new role comes at a time when they have school-aged children, requiring that they make imposable choices between the demands of work, children and caring for an elderly parent. Yes this is a challenge that has been faced by every generation, but the conditions today are in many ways more trying than in the past.

Demographics

The Federal Agency and Forum on Statistics1 projects that the United States will have over twenty million seniors over the age of eighty-five by the year 2050. This figure represents over a 600% increase over the current number. As of 2008, almost forty million men and women are reaching the age of sixty-five, and beyond. This is great news! Unfortunately not all of those seniors are healthy.
Medical science, at times seems much better at keeping people alive than at keeping the healthy. We have an ever-growing number of people who are living many years with debilitating diseases People too sick to care for them-selves but not ready to die.
Science has made many amazing advances, and so many more seem just outside of our reach. Each of these breakthroughs offers hope, promise, and increasingly, a cure: but often these treatments them selves come at a heavy price. Many of the treatments available for cancer utilize chemotherapy regiments that can leave the recipient so sick and or weak they are unable to live a self-sufficient life style. Instead they need more hope than they ever wish to admit, and more than family members or a spouse can provide.

Smaller Families/ dispersed Families

Back in the days of big families, often all living in the same neighborhood, caring for a sick relative frequently involved walking down a flight of stairs, or a few houses down the block. Several siblings could share the tasks involved in providing care. Today many people find they are alone with the burden of providing the care their parent’s needs. The primary care giver might not have a sibling, or few siblings to share the load, and or they live in another city or State.
We are also the first generation where divorce has become commonplace. This increases the number of both seniors living alone, as well as their children, now in the role of caregiver, not having a spouse to turn to for help. A single mother might have no help with the responsibilities at home, and have little time to additionally devote to senior care.

Longer Hours at Work

I remember being in middle school and the teacher telling the class how the 40 hour work week would become the 30 hour work week by the time we were out of college. Wow was she ever wrong. For many professions, 40 hours/ week is considered “Part-time” More and more of us are working 50 hours or more. The devises that promised to free up our time and make us more flexible, in fact frequently just tie us tighter to our jobs. Clients and supervisors can reach us anywhere and at any time. If you are not willing to take a clients call at 9:00pm, they will have no problem finding some one else who will. These occupations makes the difficult job of caring for a loved one, into an often impossible one.

What’s with all this Homework?

In our desire to have our children be more successful than our selves, we have placed additional pressures upon them. That coupled with the rise in competition from a global market, have conspired to create an extremely competitive world for our children. We have all heard the stories of the straight A students that can’t get into State Universities, because so many other A students applied. It seems as if even perfection is not enough. Many high schools, and now grammar schools are handing out insane amounts of homework. While parents should not be “Doing” their children’s homework, they often have a role to play.

When Did Parents become Chuffers

Again times have changed. With schools dropping many sports due to increasing insurance costs, more and more after school activities are off school grounds and require transportation. We turn on the news and hear stories about child predators, and refuse to let our children walk on their own. All of this pick up and drop off can take a major bite out of one’s time.

Insurance Companies cutting the time allowed in the hospital.
The cost of a hospital stay has jumped so dramatically that insurance companies are putting tighter restrictions on recovery times spent in a hospital setting. This does save the companies money, and help keep premiums a bit lower, but it also means that people still in need of major care are being sent home. And that demands the time and attention of family and friends to make up the difference.

A whole Generation suddenly finds it’s self ever-increasingly confronted with the responsibility of caring for aging loved ones while still struggling to keep on-top of all of the demands of life in the 21st Century.
That’s why Senior Care Resources is here to help.