Oregon faces healthcare crisis with aging population
September 21, 2010
OregonLive.com reports that Clark County, Oregon, is now facing an unprecedented health crisis due to the amount of retiring baby boomers in the region. By 2025 it is predicted that the number of county residents qualified to retire will double, putting twice the demand on senior housing, health services and transportation.
“We have task forces for all kinds of things, for everything else, but we don’t really have any kind of formal assistance to the county commissioners on aging,” commissioner Marc Boldt told the news provider.
Margaret Neal, director of the Institute on Aging at Portland State University, claims that there needs to be a change in the way that communities organize their aged care services, since most lack a centralized plan to take care of older adults.
Clark County has put together a task force of 24 individuals including an architect, transportation engineer, gerontologists and retirement community workers so that they can focus on creating a cohesive blueprint for future health, transportation, civic and housing services.
Senior citizens who are concerned with the services available to them may want to invest in a medical alert system, so that they can age safely and independently in their home. This device will allow you to contact neighbors or doctors in the case of an emergency.
