RAND Corporation: “Cost of Informal Caregiving for U.S. Elderly Is US$522 Billion” A report by the RAND Corporation published in Health Services Research, June 2015, found that: Informal (unpaid) caregiving by family members and friends is the primary source of long-term eldercare in the United States. Family members and friends spend an estimated 30 billion hours each …

Social activity is part of the human condition, and it can also help you live better.  Here is a review of a book that explores this in more detail. One of the author’s conclusions is that: “People with active social lives have higher cancer survival rates than people who are isolated.”  Should we all start partying? …

Today we’re launching a living better conversation which is important for us, and might also be for you. Baby boomers have observed the ageing of their parents. Many of us are also confronting our own ageing. Many of us do not want the experience of our parents, and few want to end up in a …

Navigating aged care Most who have been exposed to the aged care system will tell you that it is a challenging experience.  And the nursing home question – finding and funding the right care for older relatives – often ends up as the solution. A recent Financial Review article (How to navigate the aged care maze afr.com ) clearly illustrates …

Role of technology This post discusses whether emerging technology can help us to live better, as we live longer. Even with disabilities and health conditions that restrict or limit our daily activities, more than 90% of people over 75 years still live in their own homes and will continue to do so into very old age. …

This is the 2nd introduction to the Living Better Conversation where we suggest that we have an opportunity to create the new old age together.  We’re living longer, let’s also live better! Want to live in a nursing home for the rest of your life? How many articles have you read that predict increasing demand for care and estimate …

This is the first post to introduce the Living Better Conversation.  We’re living longer, can we also live better?   For those of us who want to continue living independently at home, we suggest that we need to change our thinking to create the New Old Age. What’s the problem? Many commentators have described Australia’s …

Can we learn to live without nursing homes? How? What if an entire city adopted a community-based approach to supporting mature people and their families, could this community live without nursing homes?  What would such a community look like?  Is it possible?  Why isn’t this sort of conversation happening more widely? Dr Bill Thomas is a leader in advocating for a new approach to …

“Money makes the world go round”.  That seems true when it comes to providing support for older folk, and with service provider organisations in the aged care sector.  The competition for limited dollars extends into the donations area, where organisation compete for scarce dollars available. Many organisations ask: “How do we attract donations to our organisation rather …

Organisations and governments spend a lot of time formulating and applying policy. Does this create value for our future?   Maybe we could think differently about using policies that will help us in living better? Instead of using policies to: “Hold employees and service providers accountable and to safeguard organisations and care recipients”  Maybe we could consider: In our …

The implicit question is: How can we use volunteers to stretch our resources? What if we asked this question differently: “If we could engage people to a common purpose, what would be possible, not just for us, but for them?” “Who else cares about what we care about?” “What can we do together that none of us could do on our own?”

If we ask: “What kind of nursing home is best for mum?”, we are guaranteed to go down the path of getting mum into a nursing home! Maybe a more useful question might be: “How does mum want to live as she grows older?” That might open up a whole new range of possibilities for …