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IAHSA’s US Chapter, AAHSA, is the leading advocate for not-for-profit ageing service providers in the US. In that role, they have closely followed the new Obama administration’s efforts to deal with the many challenges facing America today. And they have been effect in influencing the direction of the administration as it addresses ageing services and programs for the elderly.
AAHSA’s public policy staff recently released an analysis of how they think the new budget will affect aged care. Many IAHSA chapters are dealing with similar issues in countries around the world and this may provide some insight for them.
Registration for IAHSA’s Conference in London officially opened this week. And we welcomed our first attendee on Monday morning.
Visit the IAHSA Conference Website to see the full education program, the social events and local facility tours. Remember, space on the facility tours is limited so sign up as soon as you can.
And check out the Leadership Beyond Borders blog. This is a place that you’ll want to keep visiting to get more information about education sessions, social events, restaurants and everything else related to the event. And you can post your comments as well.
Register today to save your spot at the Premier International Ageing Conference of 2009. We’re looking forward to seeing you in London in July.
The 1st Asian Forum on Ageing, which began today in Singapore, promises to be an important step in bringing together leaders from Asian countries to share innovations and programs that provide quality care for the elderly.
The Forum is sponsored by the Tsao Foundation, IAHSA, and the Federation on Long Term Care in Chinese Community. As noted in China View, the event is of critical importance as the ageing of the populations is presenting challenges not only to government but to providers as well.
IAHSA is well represented at the Forum and we hope that it will be a foundation for the creation of a regional network for shared learning.
Much has been written about the baby boom generation, born 1946 to 1964, and their impact on society and the economy. And the boomers are ageing at a time when there is great upheaval-politically, environmentally, economically, technologically and biologically. What will things look like in 20 years and what effect will the boomers have on these evolutionary trends?
MetLife Mature Research Institute, in collaboration with the Institute for the Future, recently published two papers addressing these issues. The first provides a futuristic view of the world facing the boomers and the potential impact of their quest for reinvention and innovation. The second is a map of the changing human lifecycle as it will be lived over the next 20 years by the boomers, as well as everyone else.
This is fascinating reading and an important study for IAHSA members who will provide care for this generation over the next 20 years. Although the studies are based on American boomers, the lessons are applicable world wide.
It’s a big domino effect. The housing crisis in the US is making it hard for the elderly to sell their houses.
If the elderly don’t sell their house, they don’t have the equity to move to CCRCs or assisted living facilities.
If they don’t have the equity to move to an aged care facility, they cancel their place on a waiting list.
If the elderly cancel their place on the waiting list, the occupancy at the aged care facility falls.
If occupancy at the aged care facility falls, their revenue falls, forcing providers to cut back expenses.
If the providers have to cut expenses, there is an impact on employees and services to the elderly.
And so it goes, until the last domino falls.
Larry Minnix, IAHSA CEO, in an article in the New York Times, eloquently describes the situation in the US. How is this economy affecting ageing services in your country???
The Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare is charged with providing an annual update on the development of services for the elderly.
The report for 2007 gives an excellent overview of the structure in a country where care for the elderly is funded entirely by taxes, both through the local authorities and the national government. It is interesting to contrast this with the policies of other countries.
The plunging economy is taking its toil on everyone, including ageing services. As reported in a recent article in US News and World Report, the deepening recession in the US is threatening the entire spectrum of senior housing, including continuing care retirement communities, assisted living facilities and nursing homes.
Almost 4 million seniors live in an ageing service facility in the US and the sources of funding for care, be it personal or government, are being eroded daily.
The article describes ways in which retirement communities are coping with the economic downturn, including providing support to potential residents, lowering entrance fees, and working with local banks to help with bridge financing.
The Rudd Government has reiterated its commitment to an overhaul of community care and the provision of more short-term residential aged care options for older Australians.
Speaking at the ageing population summit in Melbourne, The Minister for Ageing, Justine Elliot conceded that consumers often find the current system difficult to navigate.
“We recognise that although the community care services are meeting the needs of many people, the system is unnecessarily complex and somewhat fragmented – making it hard for many people to find the services they need,” she said.
The minister said the government’s new initiatives will be aimed at improving accessibility.
“While continuing to fund expansion in community care, we will review and improve the range of community care programs, and particularly the administrative arrangements that apply across programs,” she said.
“The result will be a simpler, fairer, more consumer focused system that dovetails with the broader aged care system.”
At the same time, Mrs Elliot acknowledged that residential care clients are older and frailer than in the past.
She indicated that the Government will continue to push for more sub-acute and short-term residential options for older Australians.
“There will be [a] need for intensive medical care that lies between acute and long-term care as well as intermittent residential care,” said Mrs Elliot.
The Minister announced that 25 of the 228 Commonwealth-funded transition care places announced in late June are now operational in Victoria, South Australia and the ACT.
If I ask IAHSA members the question,“What is your biggest challenge in caring for your elderly residents?”, almost all of them will say, with emphasis, WORKFORCE. Finding good committed care workers is increasingly difficult. And whether deserved or not, working in ageing services universally has a negative image.
Enter the Care Ambassadors.
Young, excited and passionate about caring for the elderly, Care Ambassadors project a positive, visible and realistic picture of what it means to work in a care home. Ambassadors are recruited from care homes, trained in presentation skills, and given a chance to visit schools and local community groups to talk about social care as a career choice with people who are about to make a decision about what to do after they graduate.
Denise Harrison of Skills for Care South West is the brainchild of the Care Ambassador program. In a recently interview with the TimesOnLine, Denise noted “ the scheme has grown to attract others to the profession”, extending the potential pool for care providers. It has been so popular that Skills for Care has developed 40 regional projects, with around 1000 care ambassadors in England.
The Care Ambassador program received an IAHSA Excellence in Ageing Services Award in 2006
Care Ambassadors
We are proud that they are part of IAHSA, demonstrating that innovative and effective programs don’t have to be complex or expensive.
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