| Older Dominion Partnership |
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The Older Dominion Partnership (ODP) is a non-profit initiative by Virginia business, government, foundations, and non-profits to help Virginia prepare for the age wave -- the doubling of the Commonwealth's 65+ year old population from ~900,000 today to over ~1.8 million by 2030. The ODP serves as an inspiration, catalyst, and independent platform for networking, collaborating and planning.
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| Call for Ideas! |
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What kinds of articles or information would you like to see in this newsletter or on the ODP Web site? See what we are doing at
www.olderdominion.org
and make suggestions.
We gladly accept articles for publication in this e-Newsletter. Please send them to administrator @olderdominion.org
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Member Profile
 Meet Paulette Parker, grant program officer with Williamsburg Community Health Foundation, and ODP Shared Database Work Group Member. Read the profile.
Quote: "Healthcare for seniors is already the core business of healthcare. Nationally, individuals 65 and over account for 50% of hospital visits, 85% of long-term care residents, and 90% of homecare patients." Find more Age Wave stats at the Age Wave Preparedness Resource Center!
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Articles
Geriatricians Wanted, Must Work for Beans
Demand is soaring for geriatricians, physicians versed in treating the complex medical conditions of the elderly. In two decades, the 65-and-older crowd will constitute 20 percent of the population -- up from 12 percent now. But geriatric medicine requires extended training, and the pay, set by Medicare and Medicaid, offers little inducement to enter the profession, writes Tammie Smith for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
(Dr. Peter Boling, a geriatrician, ODP member and faculty member at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical School, is featured in a short video clip related to the main story.) Read more.
The article cites national figures for the shortage of geriatricians, but Virginia is no exception to the phenomenon. Recruiting and training a medical workforce to care for the elderly remains a tremendous challenge.
Aging in Place and Alone
Baby Boomers, determined to stay out of nursing homes and assisted living facilities when they grow old, are giving rise to the "aging in place" movement. Tammie Smith with the Richmond Times-Dispatch asks how well equipped Virginia communities are to help unprecedented numbers of elderly citizens live on their own.T Yours truly - The Older Dominion Partnership - is cited in the article as well!
Takeaway quote from Robert McNulty, president of Partners for Livable Communities: "We have to move aging from the health-care agenda to the civic agenda." Read more.
Care for the Caregivers
Caregivers of elderly parents often find themselves overwhelmed by the responsibility, especially if they're working full time. Productivity losses to U.S. businesses amount to more than $33 billion a year, according to a study by MetLife Mature Market Institute and the National Alliance for Caregiving.
St. Andrews Senior Solutions, of St. Louis, Mo., tries to address that problem through a program called Caring Workplace. The employer pays $2 per month per employee enrolled in the program. The employee gets unlimited counseling, referral services and service discounts. The hoped-for benefit to the employer: reduced absenteeism. Read more.
The Older Dominion Project is tackling the impact of the Age Wave on the workplace through its community readiness work group and its statewide research database.
Baseball: Where Graybeards Rule
Of all the major league sports, baseball has the oldest managers, asserts NPR columnist Frank Deford. The Los Angeles Dodgers, the best team in the National League, are led by 70-year-old Joe Torre. Five other National League clubs are run by managers in their 60s. One of them, 65-year-old Charlie Manuel, managed the Cleveland Indians a couple years back while wearing a colostomy bag. Read more.
We think it's wonderful that at least one major league sport shows deference to wisdom and experience. It's no coincidence, though, that baseball has the slowest tempo of all the major league sports.
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Reports & Studies
CDC Report on Growing Older & Physical Limitations
Aging Differently: Physical Limitations Among Adults Aged 50 years and Over: United States, 2001-2007
NCHS Data Brief, No. 20
You heard it here first: "Compression of morbidity" is increasing in the United States. But don't panic. That's a good thing!
Quoting from the Center for Disease Control report:
"In the United States, the onset of physical limitations occurs later in today's older population than in earlier cohorts of the elderly. This "compression of morbidity" means that on average older adults are living longer without experiencing a significant loss of independence in performing a wide range of activities."
You'll find that observation along with a lot more data on physical limitations among the elderly in the CDC report. To view it, click here. | |
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