Whiting, NJ – Older Americans are enduring the current economic recession with many more obstacles than the average citizen. From coast to coast it is becoming increasingly more difficult for senior citizens to sell their beloved homes in order to move to a more safe and dependable environment, such as an independent or assisted living facility.
With the housing market at a standstill, it is becoming commonplace for senior citizens to forego moving to independent or assisted living facilities, where they would be more comfortable and protected, because they are unable to sell their homes.
The New York Times states that “industry groups and administrators at retirement homes call the problem a growing one, which worsened as the financial crisis spread from real estate to lending markets”. A shocking “65 percent of the people that visited the Bristol Village retirement community (southern Ohio) this year said they could not buy a unit because their homes were still hanging around their necks”.
As the older population hangs in limbo between living in what they always knew as their home and moving to an assisted or independent living facility, it is the responsibility of the healthcare industry to educate them on the option of home healthcare.
Liberty Healthcare Services President Kevin Zepp reports that “We find many families feeling stranded until they’re offered the option of home healthcare. It gives them immediate relief while they wait for their homes to sell so they can make the move over to an assisted living facility.”
“When they’re coming in at 85, they’re coming in very frail and needing services”, Mr. Williams of the Assisted Living Federation told the New York Times. “They can’t wait this out. They need the care when they need the care.”
