Giving Compass' Take:

• Karen Kahn explains as the elderly population will keep increasing, the amount of personal caretakers is decreasing. This is a problem because we do not have a support system that can take care of both the elderly population and afford to pay care assistants to properly take care of them. 

• How do we encourage careers in the caretaking profession to keep supporting the growing elderly population? 

• Read about how some colleges are creating career pipelines to taking care of the aging population. 

By 2050, the number of Americans ages 65 or older will nearly double, growing from about 48 million to 88 million.Those who need the most assistance, the population of people over 85, is on track to triple, from 6.2 million to nearly over 18 million over the same time period.1 Many of these older Americans, along with younger adults with disabilities, need long-term services and supports.

They may need assistance with personal care, such as dressing, bathing, and preparing meals, or with other types of daily activity such as paying bills, cleaning the house, or getting to medical appointments. When this support cannot be provided by a family member or friend, it is often provided by direct care workers—home health aides, personal care aides, or nursing assistants.

But here’s the problem: The entire system rests on the backs of these workers, and there simply aren’t enough of them to meet current needs, much less the needs of double or triple the number of people who need care today. All around the country, reports of worker shortages are growing. Home care agencies can’t find enough workers to take cases; nursing homes report thousands of vacancies; families can’t find people to care for their loved ones.

Read the full article about caring for the elderly by Karen Kahn at Nonprofit Quarterly.