McCortney Family In-Home Care News

Seniors Fill Ranks of Caregiving Workforce for Elderly

This article discusses one of the things that seems to surprise many of our in-home care clients. It comes out of another state, but definitely applies to the Elder Care services we provide in Oklahoma.  Many of our clients, especially those with Alzheimer’s, dementia, and COPD, don’t need a lot of “hands on care”.  The need a companion.  Often the best companion for a Senior Adult is another Senior Adult.

As demand for senior services provided by nurses’ aides, home health aides and other such workers grows with the aging of baby boomers, so are those professions’ employment of other seniors. The new face of America’s network of caregivers is increasingly wrinkled.

Among the overall population of direct-care workers, 29 per cent are projected to be 55 or older by 2018, up from 22 per cent a decade earlier, according to an analysis by the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute, or PHI, a New York-based non-profit advocating for workers caring for the country’s elderly and disabled. In some segments of the workforce, including personal and home care aides, those 55 and older are the largest single age demographic.