Experts tell the Register that the tragedy of the death and suffering the health crisis has inflicted on U.S. seniors spotlights the need to implement new models that can better protect their health and dignity.
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In “Old Age: Our Future,” a recent document on lessons to be learned from the pandemic and their consequences, the Pontifical Academy for Life has observed that during the first COVID wave, death struck the elderly who were in institutions disproportionately more frequently than it did those in family homes. The document goes on to say that institutionalization of the elderly should not be seen as the only possible solution and that it would be better to use available means and financing to guarantee the best possible care in more familiar environments.
The academy proposes a new paradigm that helps society as a whole to care for the elderly and a continuum in which an elderly person’s care can be supported by new models providing home assistance, neighborhood health personnel and family homes.
Julie Trocchio of the Catholic Health Association of the United States told the Register that some such models already in place include the Village Movement, in which seniors who want to stay in their neighborhoods pay dues into an organization that uses volunteers and paid staff to provide various kinds of support and connections to services such as transportation. Similarly, Trocchio said, Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) allows elderly people who might otherwise be in skilled-care facilities to remain in their homes by providing them with medical and social services coordinated by an interdisciplinary team of health professionals.
Lindsay Mullins, a family nurse practitioner who has done research on community-level healthy aging, said the concept of aging in place safely has been successful around the country and is helping more seniors stay in their homes.
Mullins, who holds the Sister Agnes Marie Fitzsimons Endowed Chair of Gerontology at Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, said features of this model include the availability of public transportation, accessibility of outdoor activity, the presence of a social center and close proximity to food, clothing and medical services.
“That concept is one we’re seeing really help people to stay in their homes, stay connected socially and not have to go to institutional care,” she said.
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Although much of the discussion about care for the elderly tends to focus on families, services and facilities, Mullins said parishes have a role to play, as well.
“Encouraging ‘healthy aging’ groups at church parishes rather than focusing only on help for the sick is another way of changing the paradigm of aging from one of negative to positive,” she said.
Mullins said she has collaborated with the Diocese of Baton Rouge on this by talking about ways to help older adult parishioners stay connected to the resources they require to live and adult children who may be caring for their aged parents. She also identified a need to help aging priests prepare for their retirement.
“What I saw was that, in a lot of parishes, programs for anointing the sick and visiting ill people were in place.” But, she said, “What about when people are not sick and dying? What about staying connected, informed, linked and sharing their knowledge and wisdom? How do we have more of that?”
COVID Pandemic Challenges Catholics Regarding How to Provide Better Care for Our Elders