I’m currently enrolled in another Sociology class called The Process of Aging. It has been a really interesting class and sheds some light on the social, physiological and biological changes we go through as we progress through adulthood into our older years.
People in the field of Gerontology realize the importance of Active Aging in dealing with the aging population. The World Health Organization defines Active Aging as “The process of optimizing opportunities of health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age.”
When you look at the demographic projections of the aging population, it is clear to see that we are really on the cusp of something we have never experienced before. The average lifespan has increased from 47 years to 77.9 years in just 100 years. A woman turning 65 now can look forward to another 20 years of life ahead. Our culture will need to adjust quickly to the aging baby boomers who in 2006 started reaching age 60. Demographers predict that by 2030 the population over 65 maybe as high as 72 million, representing a 100% increase over 30 years, compared to only a 30% growth in the total population (US Census Bureau, 2006).
As a society we need to start planning for the surge in the older population. Our medical professions and our social programs will be choked with the increased number of older people in our society. There will be shortages across the board in any field that deals with older people medically, socially and financially. For anyone still contemplating a career path, anything dealing with the older population will be in great demand.
The aging baby booms will in some ways be blazing trails in this new phase of their lives, just as they did in the 1950’s and 1960’s through the various ways they helped shape society. They were instrumental in causing a shift in society through expressions in music and art, through “hippy” commune-living, free-love, the drug culture, anti-war, anti-establishment and pro-peace movements.
It will be interesting to watch this important group and how they approach aging. They will certainly have different expectations and needs regarding many of the aging issues we have not given much thought to in the past. What will this aging group of one-time “hippies” or protestors accept as their lifestyle and what will their demands from society be? I’m very excited to be studying the field of Gerontology as a career for the next phase of my life and to help me approach aging for myself in a positive and active way.
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I am so happy to see this blog about the aging population and the need for medical professionals who can assist with active aging. I applied this winter to the Towson Occupational Therapy Program and am waiting anxiously to hear if I get in. (any day now!)
ReplyDeleteThe growth in the population 75 years and older increases the demand for Occupational Therapy services. This is the age group that suffers from high incidences of disabling conditions. Occupational therapists (OT) help their clients improve their ability to perform tasks in living and working environments. They may assist people who suffer from mental, physical, developmental, or emotional disabilities. The ultimate goal is to assist patients in developing, recovering, or maintaining daily living and working skills.
Ultimately, people want to age in a way that their lifestyle is optimal. This means that occupational therapists can help the elderly in particular when it comes to dressing, cooking, and eating. Older people may have problems with short term memory loss, so OTs can help people learn to make lists to recall. They may assist elderly with coordination problems by assigning exercises to improve hand eye coordination. Elderly want to be as independent as possible, or have a sense of independence. So, OT's focus on the activities of daily living and fine motor skills that assist in those activities.
This career path interests me because I like working with people and helping people. I like variety and I like to be creative. I think that I would work well with both young and old. It is an important part of society to take care of all of the age groups and their particular challenges. Elderly have given so much to their families, workplaces, and communities through their life. I hope to one day be an OT so I can assist them in maximizing their life.
This is defiantly an emerging issue that will greatly affect us as a society. I don’t mean to be an alarmist but this is a huge problem that seems to go unnoticed. Thank you for addressing the subject. If people are scared about the economic woes that we are currently facing, they need to wake up. I think that the drain on social programs will be great and be too much for us to handle. It’s already projected that social security will be depleted by 2040-50? Either way we need to be more proactive concerning this issue and make better preparations to deal with the impending financial strain that will be put on society.
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