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As Ohio’s population ages, the number of older adults who need at least a little help is increasing, while the number of people qualified to offer that help is dwindling.
It’s a nationwide problem — by 2030, the number of Americans over age 65 will be greater than the number of those under 18. According to a report by the Ohio Capital Journal, that problem is already evident in the Buckeye State, where the population has been aging since the 1990s.
"Our health care is a triumph of human ingenuity, but while we're living longer, we're spending more years in less than good health," Ursel McElroy, director of the Ohio Department of Aging, told the Capital Journal. "That's the problem we want to solve for. How do we keep pace with the realities of aging?"
One effort has been to increase the pay for home health care aides to an average of $16 an hour; and McElroy said the Department of Aging and advocates across the state "have come together more so than I've seen in years past."
When lawmakers were asked to consider raises for the Medicaid-paid workforce of home health care aides, they listened. And advocates say that is slowly turning the tide as more people apply for such positions across the state.
Lawmakers and other public officials cannot stop there. Home health care is just one of the ways in which our growing population of seniors will need support in the years to come.
Advocates and lawmakers have showed that when they work together on a problem, they can make good things happen. Rather than stop after one success, both sides must continue moving forward.