Senior Forum: What's up for Seniors in Canada?

I attended the Senior’s Forum at Metro Hall, Monday 10 Jun 11.  These are some of the points

that were revealed.  We were promised a slide of the presentation.  Once I receive it I will

forward a copy to anyone interested in receiving it.

Josh, a Toronto Politician  indicated that 1 in 5 Canadians will be over 65 years of age in the next 20 years.

Presently 70,000 to 80,000 are waiting for housing (7-8 years waiting list.

The elderly have been evicted from housing for not meeting their rent requirements.  One person died two weeks after being evicted.

Dr Samir K. Sinha, MD, DPhil’s  list of credentials are so impressive and lengthy that I was expecting a much older man to appear.  However, once I saw him I recognized him from appearing in the news.  Some salient points are:

14.6 % of Canadians are 65+ and account for nearly one half of all health and social care spending (census, 2011).

The number of Canadians will double over the next 20 years while the 85 and older population is set to quadruple (Sinha, Healthcare papers 2011.

Only a small proportion of older adults are consistently high users of hospitals.  These highest users include Polymorbidity, Functional Impairments and Social Frailty.

There is nothing presently in medical school teaching physicians how to care for the elderly.

The most complex 10% of older adults account for 60% of our collective Health Care Spending.

The least complex 50% of older adults account for 6% of our collective Health Care Spending.

 (since this is when we were told that we would receive a copy of the slides, I ceased to take notes).