The Coming "Elder Boom" and Increasing Incidence of Chronic Illness
As baby boomers reach retirement age, it is estimated that in the United States alone, the elderly population is set to reach 83.7 million by 2050, doubling previous estimates of 43.1 million in 2012 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014). With the demographic shift, known as the “elder boom,” our Social Security system, and aging services will face great challenges. Increasing life expectancies and higher incidences of chronic disease (Fig 1), currently the leading cause of mortality worldwide, will drive up demand on our already stressed health care system (Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2002). According to the Geriatric Mental Health Alliance of New York (MHA-NYC, 2009), people who suffer from a chronic disease are also more likely to suffer from a mental illness. Indeed, as the incidence of chronic disease increases, the number of older adults with mental illnesses is expected to double from 7 million to 14 million people (CDC, 2013). Yet only 20-25% of older adults with a mental illness receive treatment. Stigma, lack of understanding, cost, patient location, lack of cultural competence and service shortages are among some of the leading
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As a for-profit social enterprise, caring for older adults in their homes presents unique challenges. Given the nature of their work, in-home health professionals exercise a great deal of power and discretion over their work. As defined by Lipsky (2010), these front-line service workers, or street-level bureaucrats, can shape policy according to their own “personal preferences and values”. To ensure that we both meet the needs of our beneficiaries and clearly communicate our mission to staff, we developed our mission statement based on our four core values and connected them to our belief