2011 Scholarship Entry #122: Shelby Jackson

One of the largest challenges that will face the members of my generation is population. Influenced by an inflow of baby boomers, Canadians approaching retirement are now the fastest growing demographic in the country. As a future health care professional I plan on making a difference in the lives of my generation by aiding in the care of our ageing parents.

The baby boomers are the most famous generation in history and are defined as those people born within January 1st, 1946 and December 31st, 1964. Beginning January 1st, 2011 every single day more than 10,000 Baby Boomers will reach the age of 65. That is going to keep happening every single day for the next 19 years. There are more senior citizens than ever (more than 4.3 million). That's the first time in the country's history that there are more than four million people aged 65+. To put the numbers in perspective, one out of every seven Canadians was a senior when the census was taken in 2006. The population of seniors is up by 11%, but the number of children is down by 2.5%. Every generation has to deal with elder care however the increased population combined with increased haelth care costs and diminishing Canadian pensions will present an unique challenge for my generation in terms of elder care costs and options. In 2008, provincial governments spent an average of $10,742 per Canadian age 65+, compared to $2,097 on those between age 1 and 64. While Canadians 65+ account for less than 14% of the population they consume nearly 44% of all health care dollars spent by provincial governments.

The ageing population has impacts on individuals because they are experiencing the stress of dealing with ageing parents and balancing family and work. Quite often people are being caught between their ageing parents and their young families. The cost of health care is sure to increase and their parents need extended care and medications, which definitely adds to the amount of stress on young, upcoming families. Health care professionals can make a difference in the care for our elders in the future. For-profit ownership is linked to lower staffing levels in long-term facilities, which creates much non-needed stress. Health care professionals should strive to provide excellent level of care and preventative care to provide less stress for our population. As a future health care professional I hope to examine the current system and identify areas for improvement so that I can be a part of a solution to an inevitable problem.

So as our baby boomers get older and well into retirement and our ageing population keeps growing, my generation is faced with many decisions as to how to handle the situations we will be facing. Health care costs are sure to increase although we have less people to cover the cost of it. As a health care professional we will face many challenges to help to deal with those future problems.