For years, long-term care for older Americans has suffered due to underfunding and inattention, but believe it or not, COVID-19 could help reverse these negatives, Nora Super, senior director of the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging and executive director of the Milken Institute Alliance to Improve Dementia Care, said Wednesday at the Gerontological Society of America Annual Scientific Meeting Online.
The pandemic and related deaths of older adults have created a greater awareness of the flaws in the long-term care system, she said.
“Perhaps a silver lining, when it comes to the pandemic, is that our nation will finally make changes to improve the number of home- and community-based care options for our older adults and improve the working conditions for the long-term services and support workforce in order to attract more workers, Super said.
The median annual wage for homecare aides was $23,000 in 2017, she said, adding that it is “the lowest of all occupations that the government categorizes.”
In the future, “professionalizing our caregiving workforce and increasing their pay will be increasingly important,” Super said.
