This so called silver tsunami stems from a seemingly unstoppable increase in longevity, driven in part by improvements in medical technology. American demographer James Vaupel has shown that human life expectancy in most advanced nations has increased in a linear pattern, rising by about three months a year for the past 170 years. The life expectancy in India, which was about 45 years at independence, has now grown to about 70 and the problems of ageing are slowly but inexorably rising here as well.
The real problem is that ageing is about all of us, and how we keep people productive for as long as possible. In essence ageing well is about living in an environment that has the intensity and the density of activities that keep one engaged and healthy right through our golden years.
In the west, the normal cycle of living as one gets older is to move from the home to a retirement home and then to the hospital as the fraility of old age slowly requires help in every day activities that one can no longer do for one self. But this system is costly- for example nursing homes in the US range from $78000 for an average nursing home to $ 194,000 for full time home based care. And worse this is a system no one actually wants to use -a 2005 study from the Association of Retired Persons (AARP) found that around nine in 10 of those shortly to retire expressed a strong preference to stay in their existing homes during their retirement.
In the Indian context, the joint family structure used to provide the necessary infrastructure for its aged family members. But this has slowly frayed with urbanization and some of the same problems now dog the ageing here as well. But efforts to focus on these issues and find solutions are still in their infancy. As Coughlin, the director of an ageing lab at MIT, puts it the real issue in ageing is the longevity paradox: “We spend billions of dollars trying to live longer, but no one puts any thought or any investment into how to live longer, better.”
The Age Lab at MIT has come up with some interesting solutions to help the elderly cope with life in their declining years. Among them:
But the director of the lab is the first to admit that technology is only part of the solution and that what is required is a comprehensive approach to helping the elderly navigate the difficult years of their lives. The advent of civilization has brought its own particular kinds of problems and we need to integrate technology with political and social institutions in our search for solutions.
With urbanisation, for example, has come an issue that is really modern in its origins- transport. With economic growth, people in the west tend to live in bigger houses that houses are further apart, shopping malls have replaced the neighbouring mom and pop stores, the vegetable vendors that came to your house are gradually being replaced by large malls. In the absence of any public transport, most elderly people have no alternative to cars. Taxis are expensive, or unsuitable. There are few rules to stop you driving. Faced with a choice between giving up either their cars or their freedom, most elderly people drive for longer than they should. And, as a consequence, older drivers have the highest accident rates of any group apart from teenagers. One solution under trial is ITNAmerica, an innovative not-for-profit organisation that brings together volunteers, vehicles and clever computer software to provide around 50,000 subsidised car rides a year to elderly people across the US. The organisation is, in effect, a cheap, community-run taxi service staffed by a mix of paid and volunteer drivers.
Living alone elderly couples now face problems in doing even routine jobs by themselves. While external help may be available, it is expensive. Hiring a plumber or electrician for a minor repair can cost anywhere from $ 75 t0 $200 per hour. Another experiment in Beacon Hill Village thus seeks to add community services, discounts at local stores and medical facilities and a programme of social and political activities to transportation. Here too a range of volunteers and paid professionals provide help from odd jobs to more formal care services thus providing an infrastructure of help for the aged living in their own houses.
Yet another experiment Elder Power focuses primarily on health care and was launched in 2008. This offers different packages of care, ranging from $100 to $600 a month, for which customers receive a mixture of visits and daily phone calls, along with cameras and motion sensors to monitor their wellbeing. More personal support – including transportation, help with meals and bathing – is provided too, although some of it costs extra.
The real problem is that ageing is about all of us, and how we keep people productive for as long as possible. In essence ageing well is about living in an environment that has the intensity and the density of activities that keep one engaged and healthy right through our golden years.
In the west, the normal cycle of living as one gets older is to move from the home to a retirement home and then to the hospital as the fraility of old age slowly requires help in every day activities that one can no longer do for one self. But this system is costly- for example nursing homes in the US range from $78000 for an average nursing home to $ 194,000 for full time home based care. And worse this is a system no one actually wants to use -a 2005 study from the Association of Retired Persons (AARP) found that around nine in 10 of those shortly to retire expressed a strong preference to stay in their existing homes during their retirement.
In the Indian context, the joint family structure used to provide the necessary infrastructure for its aged family members. But this has slowly frayed with urbanization and some of the same problems now dog the ageing here as well. But efforts to focus on these issues and find solutions are still in their infancy. As Coughlin, the director of an ageing lab at MIT, puts it the real issue in ageing is the longevity paradox: “We spend billions of dollars trying to live longer, but no one puts any thought or any investment into how to live longer, better.”
The Age Lab at MIT has come up with some interesting solutions to help the elderly cope with life in their declining years. Among them:
- Agnes (or Age Gain Now Empathy System)-a specially designed suit to mimic the physical restrictions of old age and helpA plastic inner harness and elastic bands attached to the feet and hands imitate the businesses adapt their products for elderly consumers;
- a set of two-way monitors allowing distant children to check in remotely on elderly parents;
- a sensor-enabled “smart trash can” to measure how much food is being eaten;
- Paro: a furry white robot seal, designed to provide stimulation for a dementia sufferer which responds to touch and sound, waking up and getting sleepy depending on the frequency with which a user interacts with him
But the director of the lab is the first to admit that technology is only part of the solution and that what is required is a comprehensive approach to helping the elderly navigate the difficult years of their lives. The advent of civilization has brought its own particular kinds of problems and we need to integrate technology with political and social institutions in our search for solutions.
With urbanisation, for example, has come an issue that is really modern in its origins- transport. With economic growth, people in the west tend to live in bigger houses that houses are further apart, shopping malls have replaced the neighbouring mom and pop stores, the vegetable vendors that came to your house are gradually being replaced by large malls. In the absence of any public transport, most elderly people have no alternative to cars. Taxis are expensive, or unsuitable. There are few rules to stop you driving. Faced with a choice between giving up either their cars or their freedom, most elderly people drive for longer than they should. And, as a consequence, older drivers have the highest accident rates of any group apart from teenagers. One solution under trial is ITNAmerica, an innovative not-for-profit organisation that brings together volunteers, vehicles and clever computer software to provide around 50,000 subsidised car rides a year to elderly people across the US. The organisation is, in effect, a cheap, community-run taxi service staffed by a mix of paid and volunteer drivers.
Living alone elderly couples now face problems in doing even routine jobs by themselves. While external help may be available, it is expensive. Hiring a plumber or electrician for a minor repair can cost anywhere from $ 75 t0 $200 per hour. Another experiment in Beacon Hill Village thus seeks to add community services, discounts at local stores and medical facilities and a programme of social and political activities to transportation. Here too a range of volunteers and paid professionals provide help from odd jobs to more formal care services thus providing an infrastructure of help for the aged living in their own houses.
Yet another experiment Elder Power focuses primarily on health care and was launched in 2008. This offers different packages of care, ranging from $100 to $600 a month, for which customers receive a mixture of visits and daily phone calls, along with cameras and motion sensors to monitor their wellbeing. More personal support – including transportation, help with meals and bathing – is provided too, although some of it costs extra.
Models like Beacon Hill Village, ITNAmerica and Elder Power show glimpses of a future in which more elderly people can stay in their homes for longer. All three use innovative technology, make use of assets in their local community and bring together the resources of local businesses, volunteers and the state to solve problems none could have solved individually, at reasonable cost.
Some other interesting attempts to grapple with this problem come from around the world:
Some other interesting attempts to grapple with this problem come from around the world:
- Mensheds ( Australia) targets those at risk of loneliness or isolation by building or renovating a local shed in which men of all ages can come together and work.
- Fureai Kippu (Japan) translated as “elderly care units” or, more charmingly, “kindness tickets”, is a nationwide Japanese system of local alternative currencies to help care for elderly people.
- Senior Co-Housing ( Netherlands) Sometimes known as “lifetime neighbourhoods”, is a system of mixed-age residential developments designed to allow young and old to live together and support each other.
- Circles, (UK) is an innovative programme of social services for elderly people, which operates by creating local “circles” of support using a mix of concierge-style phone and internet help services and local volunteer “neighbourhood helpers” to augment traditional social care.
- Aconchego,( Portugal) finds elderly people at risk of loneliness and isolation but with a spare room to offer, and matches them with local university students in need of inexpensive housing.
- Tyze, (Canada) allows elderly people to share private information with their family, friends, care-givers and health providers.
- Norcs, (US) or “naturally occurring retirement communities”, are buildings or neighbourhoods that have been retro-fitted to provide services for elderly people.
It is an irony that what all these efforts are really trying to replicate is what the Indian joint family system used to provide in the past!
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