As our life expectancies grow longer, the American population of senior citizens also grows. Today, there are more than 36 million Americans over the age of 65. This is 12% of the population. By the year 2050, the number of senior citizens is expected to jump to 21% of the population, ourselves among them.
In 1965, an insurance program called Medicare was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson as a part of the Social Security legislation. This program represents an important aspect of our future. Jobs with pensions are quite difficult to find since most companies no longer hire directly, but through employment agencies. This may lead to a future where 21% of America is elderly, broke, and lacking care.
Today, most of the nursing homes in the city I live in have a nursing staff of 1 nurse to every 20 patients. How can one person take care of 20 elderly people and be able to provide them all with quality care? The nurses are not to blame; they are doing all they can. After all, they do have 20 patients to look after. These are the conditions now, with 12% of the population of 65. I realize that not nearly all of these senior citizens are in nursing homes, but the numbers provide a small idea of how the conditions will be 42 years from now when many, MANY more citizens are living in nursing homes.
What can we do to protect ourselves? We will most likely have no social security income, very few will be lucky enough to receive a pension, and it’s difficult to make ends meet let alone invest enough to have a comfortable retirement. It seems like the only thing we will have will be our Medicare. This is truly depressing.
Now how can this be progressive? We need to prepare. We need to take an active interest in who is voted into office and their views. We need to open our hearts and be more empathetic to others so we can teach the next generation to be empathetic. The next generation is going to be the ones to take care of our generation in our old age. We need to get involved and stop sitting on the sidelines.
Where do we start? I know many of us barely have time to eat with a knife and a fork let alone get involved with our communities, but volunteering is a great way to improve our society. So many organizations need help, but don’t have the resources to hire anyone. Volunteers are needed by so many organizations, even if it’s an hour a month stuffing some envelopes. If you don’t have any time, donations are also a great way to help. One of the most important things we can do is to stay informed about what is happening in Washington, D.C. When looking at an issue close up, you may think, “this doesn’t apply to me” but in the great big picture, somewhere down the line you may very well be affected. Especially if it concerns any part of government spending.
The best thing we can do yet is to choose a profession that will assist in bringing about social change. Honestly, almost every field can somehow make a contribution to our communities; it’s really a matter of whom you choose to work for. Our choices and actions determine the future. Shouldn’t we want the best future possible?
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Halfway through this entry I felt like mentioning that volunteerwork should help, so I'm glad you mentioned that.
A 20:1 ratio is not a good sign. I can't honestly understand how one person could care for twenty others. Perhaps with some volunteers, easier tasks can be handled so the nurse can do the more important work.
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You're right. I'm not sure how well-staffed nursing homes are in other cities, but I contacted all of the nursing homes in my area and 20 is the average. Some are a little better and others worse. The only basis for real comparison that I have is when my brother was in the hospital and the ratio was about 4:1. Even here patients didn't always get cleaned up when they should have. If another patient has an emergency, the others tend to get neglected. I couldn't imagine the neglect at a 20:1 ratio.
When this entry was talking about nurses and patient ratios, it reminded of the time when I was volunteering in the general hospital. Even though many think that volunteering is boring it can actually be fun. Many of the nurses had stories to tell and they can really teach you a lot if you wanna go into the medical field. Plus you meet people who are nice to you because they know that you are there to help them. It truly is a nice place to learn and help people.
With the population of elderly citizens growing, more social security money will be used and in relation to that fact, the money that we (the younger generations) are supplying the government to fund our own ssi for when we retire, is being used for those people who did not pay into their fund when they were younger. Also, our social security benefits are being used to fund the war in Iraq instead of having a lock put on them, all of the funds/ taxes that we pay into the government out of our hard earned dollars are being put to waste by the congress.
Unfortunately, by the time our generation retires, we won't have much. Most likely there will be no more funds in social security for us to collect. What can we do to prepare for retirement? I used to have a retirement fund, but unfortunately, I had to cash it out to catch up on bills. It scares me to think about the kind of retirement I will have with absolutely no money.