There is no doubt that all people live according to the laws of the nature. One of the laws states that all new-borns will grow old and consequently die. The risk to die is increased by different illnesses, which are caused by different reasons, and have different effects on human health. This paper will contain the explanation of the demographic situation of the elderly who need a long term health care, and the solutions proposed by the government. The science, which analyzes the death and the birth rates in the world, and the reasons for such rates, is called “demography”. Nowadays there are various technologies available to treat the diseases which could not be treated some centuries ago, and, thus, to increase the living age of humans, for example, the long term care. The elderly may be provided with a long term care in different ways, the most common are: a nurse, certified aid by a nurse, and a certified therapist, who is always ready to come to a house of an elderly to provide a person with the necessary medical care. Some of the elderly need more health care than the others, or he or she needs to be in skilled nursing facilities, where he or she is provided with a long term medical care that is needed.
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The quantity of the elderly in one or another area is increased with the level of life expectancy. In 1912 in Canada lived seven million of people and by the year 2002 the population increased to thirty five million citizens. Between those years, the live expectancy of women increased from fifty to seventy four, and for men from forty six to sixty five. It was estimated that by 2020 the life expectancy of men will increase up to seventy years and for women up to eighty, which means that they will need more health care than nowadays, besides, people who care for them will be needed. According to the research made by Canadian scientists, most of the elderly will have chronic diseases, which affect the quality of their life (for example, they will need to take medicine for quite some time, or be cared of by a nurse, or doctors should examine them frequently). Thus, such a situation may cause the earnest changes in the health care market, because more costs and stuff will be needed to help the elderly. Besides, there will be a need in medical nurses, new medications and means of treatment, as well as those who are taught to treat people.
There are such organizations, as Medicare or Medicaid in Canada, but they have recently begun to cover the expenses for the health care for the elderly. Such organizations help those who cannot afford to pay for a surgery, or those who do not have any material or even emotional and physical support from their families. Chronic illnesses are the most significant problem of the health care of the elderly, because there are almost no resources needed to achieve the high quality of life. Besides, medicine used for treatment of the chronic diseases may be very expensive, and cost of some of them may not be covered by Medicare or Medicaid. The point is that the income of the elderly has decreased, which makes them either spend all the money for treatment or have bad life quality. Public funds and caregivers are not often ready for such a challenge, because there are other expenses than medicine for the elderly. For example, treatment for a patient with diabetes costs $1297, heart diseases $1459, hypertension $1005 per year.
But that is not the only problem of the elderly; another problem is keeping the life quality. In the last century there was a practice to treat a patient only until he or she is able to recover, and when there is no hope left that a patient may be treated, doctors reduce the quality and quantity of medical care given to a patient. The point is that not only the quality of health care should be increased, but the quality of life of the elderly. This will help people with chronic diseases not to give up and move on. The solution is chronic disease wellness programs, which are aimed to help the elderly remain active, encourage them to struggle against their chronic disease, they are learned how to prevent falls and cope with extraordinary situations, they are given advises about healthy diet and way of life; there are groups made to help the elderly women cope with their depression.
Chronic disease wellness programs offer special programs for family members and those who take care of the elderly. By using chronic disease wellness programs, those who need health care will decrease their dependence on services that pertain to poorly managed chronic disease. If the elderly, caregivers and the society work together to provide the others with awareness, support, and solutions, there will be more resources to help the elderly.
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According to the assumption made by Canadian scientists, the amount of money spent by Medicare between 2012 and 2030 will increase from $46 million to $76 million, although the amount of money may be considerably decreased, if the elderly are taught to take care of their selves. By encouraging self-management of the elderly and involving more and more patients, the expenses may be decreased greatly, than if there were no cooperation between caregivers, nurses and the elderly to help the latter to have the quality of life they need and deserve. According to the data, given by the Medicare organization, the twenty seven percent of all the expenses, which is $327 billion dollars, are spent for elderly in their last years, which is a significant amount of money. The greatest challenge for family members, as well as for caregivers, is providing the elderly with quality life conditions, education and support, not only financial, but also physical and emotional support, which will help a patient to achieve the optimal level of health, which will cost the family and providers the least. There should be a chance for the elderly to have stable emotional, financial, social and physical health to be able to deal with the increasing of the life expectancy in less intimidated manner.