Increasing Demand for Long-Term Care

Most countries are facing the aging of their population, which results in an increasing demand for long-term care. In order to develop assistance in the area of ​​long-term care, it is important for the municipality to play a more active role. According to the words of Ephraim Zagelbaum, founder and CEO of Personal Healthcare, “aging is not just about facing life's crises, it's about moving through life's challenges and opportunities."

In a context of population ageing, Ephraim Zagelbaum encourages the utilization of professional care for the elderly living in the community. Mr. Zagelbaum proposes universal access for all citizens, effective care for better health outcomes, efficient use of resources, high-quality services and responsiveness to patient concerns. This understanding is needed to increase the efficiency of the long-term care system. Indeed, formal care used has been found to have positive effects on the health of the elderly and it also affects their relatives by relieving the burden of informal care.

In any case, long-term care for the elderly due to the large and demanding range of services and assistance over a long period of time is a great burden for family members who care for them. Care for dependent members, as Ephraim Zagelbaum has investigated, has a negative impact on the caregiver's physical and emotional state and on the development of health problems. If care requires an engagement of more than 20 hours per week, it can also have a negative impact on labor market participation, on the number of weekly work hours, and on total household income.

New forms of assistance should be based on the knowledge, skills and experience of older persons and should be implemented in accordance with their needs. Such guidelines should be taken into account when designing new services, such as activities related to employment and socialization.

The ultimate goal is to develop and evaluate models of holistic care for the elderly and their families in the local community, today and in the future, should be highly adaptable to the diverse and changing needs of the elderly so that the necessary care services can be provided quickly and efficiently.

The goal of holistic care for the elderly is to achieve optimal aging.

-Improve the quality of life of healthy and sick seniors.

-Some old people live in good quality despite poor health and vice versa.

-The elderly is at the same time a family member, friend, retiree, and possibly a sick person.

-Every senior is an individual to himself.

-An access to care for an elderly person can raise the quality of life in old age.

It is certainly important that we need policies to mitigate the effects of an aging population promoting their health, educating them on prevention and healthy lifestyles, as well as through long-term care and promoting health tourism.