How to prepare for "silver tsunami"? by Lenka Filipova

A few years ago there was no need to have such a widely extended knowledge how to treat the older people in America. This has, however, changed as the imminent silver tsunami is coming soon. William Kreager, a Seattle architect, used this term "silver tsunami" to describe the wave of baby boomers born just after the World War II. He warned about the impact on the housing market and the population growth by 75 percent by 2010. Due to this crucial case, a new necessity emerged. Brown and other medical schools are now expanding additional geriatric courses to acknowledge the accurate care for the elderly and to train as many specialists as possible. The U.S. Census Bureau draws the attention to the ratio of the elderly to the geriatric physicians. It claims that by 2030 the number of old Americans will double to 71 million, resulting in 7,655 seniors per one physician. Richard Besdine, who is director of the geriatrics division at Brown University medical school in Providence, Rhode Island, and past president of the American Geriatrics Society, signalizes that the first small waves have already come and America is still not convenient to deal with this task. He underscored also that a strategic and coordinated action should be taken to handle this issue responsibly and conscientiously. The major problem is that the geriatrics is not very lucrative field of medical choice. It is mainly because of poor pay and hard ailment diagnosis. Even some specialists who concentrate on health and aging population confirm that this medical branch is a difficult and complicated job, badly paid and no stable status. The American Geriatric Society has tempted the need of another 13,000 geriatricians essential to give adequate care for the elderly. Moreover, the Hartford Foundation supported medical schools financially by giving more than $40 million and the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation donated $100 million to 30 schools to include more geriatric departments.

by Lenka Filipova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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