Assessment Task 3
Aging can be illustrated as a systematic process of discrimination and stereotyping against older people just because they are old. According to the Human Rights Commission, aging is a feature where older people are merged together, or people think about them as the same because of their age.
The health and treatment of aging people in society have further been discussed and have a big impact on the country’s society. Health is a basic societal issue that is vital in developing any community or country (Tonetti et al., 2017). Meanwhile, in terms of aging, health is an important aspect that can be controlled practically and emotionally. These health problems consist of various diseases, which will be further discussed in the study and help make a policy for them.
Population aging has a huge effect on organizing and delivering health care. The most important aspects to be discussed in the field are the development of short- to long-term illnesses and the shortage of healthcare professionals. Health issues in the aging field have diversified and increased a lot in recent times (Tonetti et al., 2017). These issues are of great importance because a lot of older people have minor health issues, and due to those minor issues, a long-term issue is created. Before, no policies were made about diminishing health issues; health measures are needed to address this matter.
The foremost issue in the health measures to pursue is to look for chronic sicknesses, like heart disease, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer’s disease, instead of small and acute diseases. For this purpose, a design has to be made, where the style of medicine will be changed, which corrects a single health issue instead of curing multiple diseases after a long time. Patients and doctors will maintain an engaging relationship to help the patients deal with the disease instead of directly curing it. With long-term treatment comes disability for aging people. Nursing homes, personal care, and dedicated housing services will manage this side of the treatment. After that, the financial and insurance system needs to be looked at to maintain the purpose for which it was started.
The most important issue that comes with the application of the aging policy is professional staff commitment. It includes certified care specialists, nursing assistants, personal care attendants, and home care workers. The staff who provide health care to older people are mostly women, are from racial or ethnic minorities, and are not skilled enough to give the appropriate health care (Peterson, 2015). Heavy workloads, low wages and incentives, complex working conditions, and a job that is not liked by society have also played a vital role in hiring and job motivation.
If this were a short-term problem, it could have been solved easily. But, when treated as a larger concern, it creates a huge imbalance (Klimczuk, 2017). Hiring professional staff on a small scale also makes no difference because the aging problem cannot be dealt with on a short-term basis. Current U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projections do not show a decline: employment of registered nurses is projected to grow 5% from 2024 to 2034, with about 189,100 openings each year on average. Higher wages and benefits are required to attract more workers to the job.
Public programs can also play a positive role in development to increase the health of the aging population. These programs mostly include the financing of health care for older people. It is believed to have a great impact on older people. Quick care services for older people, like physician and hospital care, are normally financed by private and public sources (Oliver, Foot & Humphries, 2014). There is a variety of social and medical care programs that are financed and administered by sponsors. These programs can also include a number of younger people. Overall, these finances have largely decreased in the past. This has also influenced the need for the issue in recent years (Buffel et al., 2016). Aging people who do not have any financial resources rely on health care funded by others. So, they tend to move towards bad health conditions when they do not get appropriate health care.
Where most short-term care finance can be easily deprived, long-term facilities are also important. Like home and community-based services, chronic care financing is mostly done by NGOs, government entities, and private insurance (Baker & Baker, 2017). Such medical care features need to be adopted, where the medical care facilities are strict and provide a good earning for the staff. Long-term care needs to have long-term finance, which is provided by a consistent source. With an increased aging population comes more challenges.
Besides the points mentioned above, the main policy should be about the income an older person receives. This is other than the health issue, but it is of equal importance. These incomes are also funded by public entities and make a large impact on the behavior of an older patient (Smit et al., 2016). Policies should be made according to the desired number of aging people. In every society, some entities help society and improve it accordingly. Previously, medical care programs covered only elders and some people with any disease (Araujo et al., 2016). Such policies must be finished, and a “policy for all” should be made. Some countries have programs that cover the entire population.
References
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Baker, A., & Baker, A. (2017). Obesity in an Ageing Population: A Proposed Multidisciplinary Intervention Model for Supporting Cognitive Performance and Physical Function in Obese Seniors. Adv Obes Weight Manag Control, 6(5), 00174.
Buffel, T., McGarry, P., Phillipson, C., De Donder, L., Dury, S., De Witte, N., … & Verté, D. (2016). Developing age-friendly cities: Case studies from Brussels and Manchester and implications for policy and practice. In Environmental Gerontology in Europe and Latin America (pp. 277-296). Springer, Cham.
Klimczuk, A. (2017). Diversity of Ageing Policy Concepts. In Economic Foundations for Creative Ageing Policy, Volume II(pp. 55-102). Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
Oliver, D., Foot, C., & Humphries, R. (2014). Making our health and care systems fit for an ageing population. King’s Fund.
Peterson, M. (2015). Introduction: Homelessness is an ageing policy issue. Parity, 28(6), 9.
Smit, M., Cassidy, R., Cozzi-Lepri, A., Girardi, E., Mammone, A., Antinori, A., … & Monforte, A. D. A. (2016, October). Quantifying the future clinical burden of an ageing HIV-positive population in Italy: a mathematical modelling study. In 13th International Congress on Drug Theraphy in HIV infection.
Sowada, C., Kowalska-Bobko, I., Mokrzycka, A., Domagała, A., Zabdyr-Jamróz, M., Tambor, M., & Golinowska, S. (2017). The activities of older people when healthy ageing policy and funding is limited. The institutional and financial dimensions of health promotion for older people in Poland. Zdrowie Publiczne i Zarządzanie, 2017(Numer 1), 69-84.
Tomczyk, Ł., & Klimczuk, A. (2017). CHALLENGES OF AGEING POLICY.
Tonetti, M. S., Bottenberg, P., Conrads, G., Eickholz, P., Heasman, P., Huysmans, M. C., … & Nyvad, B. (2017). Dental caries and periodontal diseases in the ageing population: call to action to protect and enhance oral health and well‐being as an essential component of healthy ageing–Consensus report of group 4 of the joint EFP/ORCA workshop on the boundaries between caries and periodontal diseases. Journal of clinical periodontology, 44(S18).
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