The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates one in eight Americans is over the age of 65, a proportion that’s expected to reach one in five – that’s twenty percent – by the year 2030. In Tennessee, the percentage of senior citizens is even higher – about one in six.
Existing social safety nets were created in times when Americans had shorter lifespans and different needs in their golden years. Today’s demands for senior citizens represent, in some ways, a fundamental shift in how our society thinks about quality of life, medical care and social connections in our older years. Today on Dialogue, elder care and its unique challenges.
The University of Tennessee's Karen Rose and Blount Memorial Hospital's Edward Harper join host Brandon Hollingsworth for this discussion.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT TODAY'S TOPIC
Tennessee Commission on Aging and Disability
County-by-county data on senior populations
Types of senior care and their defintions
(Inclusion on this list does not constitute endorsement from WUOT or WUOT News)