Planning to age gracefully.

• Author: Wiens, Linda
• Position: Guest Column

This is not a personal column. It has to do with your community, municipality and region. It requires attention now, if you and yours are to have a good life in future.

When we say "2030," it seems very far away. How old will you be then? That makes the date more comprehensible, since you know people who are that age now. Consider some of the things that will happen by 2030, and what some of the implications are:

1. The volume of Canadians over age 65 will more than double by 2030. That will be one in six or seven people.

2. Far fewer wage earners will pay into the social service and retirement system. That will increase stresses greatly, on families and on service agencies.

3. Currently, up to-half of those aged 85 and over suffer from some form of dementia. That will continue, perhaps with some reduction due to new drugs. These people need caregiving.

4. Expectations for good care will increase, because boomers have come to know and expect a good life, and their numbers are large enough to insist. But the number of caregivers will reduce. Long-term care is hard on the family, and it is costly for professionals.

5. Before 1975, older people were concentrated in inner-city and town-core neighbourhoods. That is no longer true, since the suburbs were settled with people now over 60. The "rolling wave of the frail elderly" into the suburbs is swelling.

This combination of factors creates a recipe for serious problems. They are not yet being addressed by planners and policymakers. The main reason is that many people are in denial about the realities of growing old.

It is in our collective best interest to transform our communities so that they are sensitive to the issue of aging to enable more older people to maintain...