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Who will look after you in your old age?

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Right now elderly people living in the province depend on either their partner or their kids to take care of them but that’s a trend that’s changing says BC’s Seniors Advocate Isobel Mackenzie.

“People who are single, people who don’t have children do need to think about how they are going to plan for their future and the aging process. It’s not going to be as clear who make decisions for them, who is their substitute decision maker, who gets their power of attorney who can be their representative.”

Mackenzie says the stats show people these days are less likely to be married or have children and we need to take that into consideration when it comes to future housing solutions for seniors. “We need to look at different groups of people living independently but within a group, so condominium building or co-housing they call it, it’s the new word but it basically describes condo living with some space that people can gather in.”

She adds another scenario we’ll be seeing more of is a live in caregiver that is not a family member taking on that role.

A new study out of the States found one in four American seniors are “elder orphans,” those growing old without any kind of family support. The findings are scheduled to be presented at The American Geriatrics Society’s 2015 annual scientific meeting in Washington, DC.
HD: Who will take care of you when you grow old? BC’s seniors advocate says it’s time to look at changing our structure of care for the elderly so you don’t end up as an “elder orphan”

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