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The American Senior Community
from: Kyle BesserAccording to the web site for the Department of Health and Human Services, one in six Americans are over 60 years old. As the baby boomers age, that proportion will increase. The numbers will put a stress on the organizations that are designed to care for our oldest citizens. This is not something that can be denied any longer.
The American Senior Community is a community of opposites. On one hand, they live in a relatively rich and stable country that is considered to be a world power. Living in the United States allows many seniors to have options that seniors in other countries do not have. On the other hand, many of the oldest of the American Senior Community do not have enough food or appropriate housing or they do not live in safe environments. According to America's Second Harvest, 52% of all client households with seniors don't have adequate food and 65% of these households live in poverty.
A variety of online sites indicate that many senior citizens are victims of economic fraud and scams on senior citizens. Many individuals don't hesitate to take the life savings of the elder citizens of this country and leave those citizens at the mercy of the government or other people.
Many seniors have no family who are able to care for them and the seniors are sent to nursing homes to live out their last days. Many of these nursing homes don't have appropriate oversight, and the staff has been known to abuse the elderly residents. The abuse varies, but can include physical abuse, physical neglect, verbal and emotional abuse and medical neglect.
Nursing homes are not the only known abusers found in the American Senior Community. Seniors who live in the homes of relatives have been found to be abused in much the same way as seniors in nursing homes. Even though it would seem that living at home would make a senior more secure, many families can not cope with the difficulties of a senior relative and allow their frustrations to be taken out on the senior.
If the American senior citizens are to live well in their golden years, many people believe that the government needs to make some adjustments. The Older Americans Act (OAA) has provisions to help those families that care for an older relative. Medicare and an Ombudsman (people who investigate claims of abuse against the elderly) will need to be strengthened. It is possible that these programs are satisfactory as they are today, but, given the expected increase in the population of the American Senior Community, these programs will need to be augmented.
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