May 7, 2006

By JOEL DAVIDSON

Frontiersman MAT-SU - America is quickly wrinkling and losing its hair.

This year, as America celebrates Older Americans Month, the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau says we now have more than 36 million citizens older than 65. By 2050, that will balloon to 87 million as the structure of the American population continues to undergo an unprecedented shift toward an increasingly geriatric society.

Even Alaska, once considered a state of young men, is undergoing a dramatic transformation into older age.

In 2004, there were only 62,000 Alaskans older than 60 - a mere 8 percent of the population. By 2025, Alaska will be home to more than 165,000 people older than 60, and they will comprise 20 percent of the state's population.

According to a 2004 report by the Alaska Commission on Aging, Alaska's population aged 65 years and older is expected to triple in just two decades, along with the number of people affected with Alzheimer's disease and related disorders.

As people grow older, they require more assistance to carry on daily affairs. Assisting the aged with personal hygiene, transportation, social interaction and financial security are growing challenges that state and federal agencies are scrambling to meet as the country ages.

“It's real darn hard to get a registered nurse,” said Wasilla Senior Center Director Judy Lake. “We are an aging population, and we need more and more nurses - there are not enough.”

According to a 2005 report by the President's Council on Bioethics, a combination of factors is creating a growing shortage of care providers for older Americans.

“While the need for long-term caregivers and proxy decision makers appears to be increasing, the supply of readily available caregivers appears to be shrinking,” the report states. “Because families are smaller, there are fewer adult children to care for their aged parents.”

Many more older people are childless and alone, the report states. In addition, family instability and greater geographic mobility has created a situation where fewer caregivers are willing or available to care for family members.

Lake sees the need for family support first-hand at the Wasilla Senior Center.

“We have people here who have all their family members in the Lower 48 or they just don't have any family at all,” she said. “We end up being their family.”

According to the President's Council on Bioethics, 22 million Americans provide unpaid care for their family members, which accounts for the bulk of long-term care. This, however, is expected to change in coming years.

The availability of unpaid family is diminishing, the report states. This is due in part to the greater opportunities for women in the workforce, which leaves fewer people free for volunteer care-giving. In addition, smaller families and higher divorce rates also compromised traditional care-giving networks. In less than 15 years, 1.2 million people over age 65 will have no living children.

Organizations such as the Anchorage-based Ready Care are trying to fill the need for caregivers by partnering with Medicaid to help older Alaskans hire personal caregivers. In some cases, seniors can hire family members to care for them.

Ready Care staffer Frank Ross said family members are great option for some.

“When a family member can work for you that's great,” he said. “After a while, though, that might not work out. You have to really want to do this kind of work.”

The University of Alaska's School of Nursing Strategic Plan, warns that Alaska is in the midst of a serious and worsening nursing shortage. Since 2001, the university's nursing program has worked to more than double its capacity to help address the critical nursing shortage in Alaska and the country. As part of the statewide effort, new nursing courses began at UA's Mat-Su College campus in January.

Lake said there will be plenty of work for nurses once they finish training.

In addition to the growing medical needs, older citizens also need to socialize and interact. This becomes a challenge as more and more people live well into their 80s and even 90s, losing mobility and independence.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of Americans 85 and older will grow from 4.9 million in 2004 to 9.6 million in 2050. These people most likely to suffer from immobility, dementia and other sever limitations.

Peg Bowers manages Adult Day Services for the Palmer Senior Citizens Center. She said older people still have basic human longings that need fulfillment.

“They need the same things that young people need,” she said. “They need people that care about them, family members, friendship, places to go to and relax. As you get older, these things become even more important.”

Next month, the Alaska Commission on Aging will host a two-day convention, June 27 and 28, on the future of aging in Alaska, and the issues facing Alaska's population as it grows increasingly older.

Contact Joel Davidson at

352-2266 or joel.davidson@

frontiersman.com.