Aging phenomenon causing the home assistant shortage

Nursing home residents. Old people walking outside with caregivers and visitors. Vector illustration for elderly care, age, retirement, hospice concept

With the advancement of medical technology, some diseases that were previously deadly now only rob people of their ability to live on their own. As the population ages, the longer people live, the more common the phenomenon is, and more seniors need long-term care.

In accordance with statistics from the Canadian Health Index Survey:

There are 40% of Canadians with serious health issues who struggle financially and 82% chance that at least one member of an elderly couple with an average age of 65 will require long-term care services. The average inflation rate in Canada over the previous ten years has remained at 2%, yet the cost of health care has increased by more than 4%. 75% percent of Canadians who have retired say their income is lower now than it was when they first retired, while the cost of living has increased. 

The cost long term care mainly depends on the content of the service, there are 3 types of caring services:

1. Medical care: Seniors may need round-the-clock or regular care from nurses if they are unable to take care of themselves. Due to the fact that nurses must have some medical training, this sort of treatment is the most expensive.
2. Nursing home: If the seniors are unable to care for themselves while their family is unable to assist them either, you can reside in a nursing home and be taken care of by someone with a moderate price.
3. Home assistant: Life assistants offer door-to-door services at a reasonable price, helping with housework including grocery shopping, cooking, bathing the elderly, eating, taking medicine, walking, cleaning, and even putting out the trash.

For those currently provided caring services, home assistants should be the most affordable service for the elderly. Findourmed is a platform provided for those caregivers and people who are needing long-term care. The requirements of being a caregiver are not as difficult as being a nurse. Everyone can apply to be a home assistant as they may need to take some specific course to enhance their basic knowledge of medical care. The platform provides job opportunities for people who are unemployed and hopefully it can ease unemployment under the Covid-19 influence.