Geriatric Care Management - Term Paper Example

 Introduction The world is currently experiencing an increase in the number of the people who are aged. This phenomenon has mainly been brought about by the increase in the life expectancy due to medical advancements, which have led to reduced causes of early death. The aged group is characterized with various needs most of which the community must be willing to provide. These needs are usually specific only to the aged population. Primarily, the aged population is characterized by several ailments, which make them incapable of doing even some of the basic tasks. For instance, the aged may suffer from disabilities (e.g. blindness and deafness); they may also suffer from several mental disorders. In addition, some of the aged may not have people to effectively take care of them as some may be living alone, either because they were not married or did not have enough savings to buy or build a house after retirement. This necessitates the need for the creation of several programs, which will specifically target the aged and ensure that the quality of the life that they lead is not compromised by the fact that they are aged. Entrepreneurs and businesses should therefore look for ways to take advantage of the situation in order to get financial benefits. For instance, different products can be devised which will mainly target the aged in the community. One such product is the establishment of a paid up aged care; this facility will be able to provide the aged with the services necessary for the improvement of the quality of their lives. Moreover, the services provided will specifically target the old and will therefore incorporate different requirements that the aged need. Demographic aspects of the business Due to the fact that the business targets only a specific demographic sector, the business must effectively know how to deal with the uncertainties or future changes in the demographic fraction of the population. America currently has the highest number of the aged population in history. This aged population is expected to reach about 80 million as the baby boomers start reaching the retirement age (Cress 2007 p 211). In addition, this population needs specialized care and hence providing ready demand for the company’s services. Florida has a population of about 18 million; of this population, 17.2 percent are aged above 65 years. This is far much higher than the national average of 12.9 (US censors bureau 2009). However, even though the statistics of the aged appear to be large, only a small fraction of the population is fully capable of settling their expenses arising from the provision of the services by the company (Cress 2007 p 211). Moreover, Florida has an income smaller than the national average, hence the people who will be able to pay for the service will also be small (US censors bureau 2009). However, due to the large number of people who are 65 years and above, Florida has comparatively a higher number of people who can afford to pay for the services. Therefore, the Company will target these groups as its primary source of demand. Factors that facilitate the setting up of the aged care facility The increase in the number of aged – there has been a rapid increase in the number of the aged population. This trend is expected to continue in the foreseeable future. This necessitates the setting up of the facility in order to benefit from the increase in the aged population. Lack of family members to take care of some of the old – there has been a change in the traditional setting where women used to take care of the family members. Women nowadays look for paid employment in order to complement the income gained by the men. These women therefore spend their time in taking care of their children leading to the neglect of the aged (Blanchard-Fields and John, 2006, p 422). Lack of some of the members of the society to deal with the problems facing the aged – even though some of the aged people have people to take care of them, these people are usually faced with several problems since they do not know how to care for the elderly. This sometimes causes social tensions between the caregivers and the aged people. Lack of enough facilities to provide aged care - Florida has among the highest proportion of the aged population in America. Its proportion of the aged is far much higher than the national average (US censors bureau 2009). However, the number of aged care facilities is far much small. Main services which will be provided Medical services – the facility will provide the aged with the necessary medical services to enable them to effectively cope with the numerous problems that they may be facing. In addition, the facility will provide regular medical check-ups to the aged to determine their health conditions and therefore help them to effectively cope with their problems. The facility will provide regular eye check ups for the aged. Personalized home based care – the facility will also provide the aged with personalized home based care for the situations which do not warrant the old having to live in the facility. In addition, there will be regular visits to the homes of the concerned people to enable them lead normal lives. Equipments to enable the aged deal with various disabilities – due to aging, the old are usually faced with many physical disabilities. The facility will therefore provide the aged with the necessary equipment to handle the disabilities. These include wheel chairs, walking sticks and hearing aids Rejoining the aged with their family members – there are many aged members of the society who do not have family members to take care of them. The facility will therefore enable the old to locate some of their relatives who can take care of them. This will mostly be for the aged people who do not have serious physical or mental problems. Teaching people on home based care of the aged – in most of the situations, the aged are usually taken care of by the family members. However, these people are usually faced with different problems as they are not conversant with the many complications of the aged and hence do not know how to address their specific needs (Blanchard-Fields and John, 2006, p 141). However, the facility may also provide other services based on the specific needs of the consumers and the recent development in the regulation of the provision of the aged care service. Means of facilitation of the services Several methods will be used to facilitate the provision of the service. Special emphasis will be paid to the location and availability of the service, as they are the main factors that will lead to success or failure of the facility. The company will try as much as possible to ensure that the location and availability of the services provided by the facility will be as convenient as possible to the consumers and any other relevant parties Location Location is one of the most important aspects of the business. It will determine whether the business will succeed or not. To achieve this, the company has identified several locations in which the business will be located. To start with, we intend to have the main offices of the organization in an area where the old are involved in. The company will also have smaller facilities, which will be convenient located in various locations of the region. The services provided by these facilities will be limited due to their small size. Availability of the services Our main facilities will be open to any member of the community who would like any issue to be addressed. The main facility will provide the services at all times of the day. However, the smaller clinics will only provide services during the day and will remained closed at night. In addition, the company will have medical officers who will be able to provide the services to people at their areas of residence. These medical officers will be available on appointment. For the people receiving the personalized home-based care, the company intends to have a full time medical officer who will be readily available to meet the needs of the patient at any time of the day or night. The company will also use the mobile clinics, which will be able to reach the patients at whichever place they may be, and offer the services they require. The services will be available to all the members of the community regardless of the ethnicity or race of the beneficiaries. Reference List Blanchard-Fields, F. and John, C. (2006). Adult Development and aging. New York: Cengage Learning. Retrieved December 11, 2010, from: http://books.google.com/books?id=9qvnS5IdwEQC&pg=PA163&dq=current+set-+ups+in+long-term+care+facilities&hl=en&ei=wRjJTK3tJ8vtOenfyYUB&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false. Cress, C. (2007). Handbook of geriatric care management. NY: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Retrieved December 11, 2010, from: http://books.google.co.ke/books?id=IofAZtjrIsYC&pg=PA209&dq=aged+care+business&hl=en&ei=lC8DTZucCdiV4gb53_GsCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CD0Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=true US censors bureau. (2009). Florida.. Retrieved December 11, 2010, from: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/12000.html. Read More