90 million reasons to start planning… today The numbers are staggering: USA Today says that the American population 65 and older will more than double during the next 50 years from about 42 million to more than 90 million and that Americans 85 and older will triple! Our infrastructure, housing, medical care system and economy aren’t even close to ready. This great article by USA Today says that we need to focus on several areas in particular and I agree: (View Link) Health Care – and costs Senior-friendly housing Transportation Staying engaged and productive Caregiving All of these areas are critically important and we must all work together to find solutions that serve seniors better than we currently are…and we must start now! We must all work together…and we must start now! Care to Continue is obviously focused on the caregiving need since we are a caregiving agency but we believe that it would be shortsighted to not focus our energies on some of these other areas as well. Life to the Fullest For instance, our caregiving program is engagement focused. What that means is that Care to Continue partners with seniors and family members to continue productivity and enjoyment of life. In other words, we aren’t interested in just adding years to life, it is critical to us and to our seniors that life and fulfilling life be added to years.That might look like volunteering to visit other seniors or serve at a food bank or design applications that are senior friendly. Care to Continue listens to seniors and we are constantly amazed at how much they have to say and how much value they add to society. The new era of retirement is emerging where seniors don’t stop producing good for society, they just get to do it on their terms, timing and pace. The need for volunteerism in America has never been greater and the pool of prospective volunteers with time and talent has never been deeper. The challenge is developing and empowering leaders to engage our friends in the quest to do the most good with every day! Our hope at Care to Continue is to be part of that team pushing to engage the 90 million instead of complaining that they are coming. Check out this nice article in the USA today.