The Future of Aging and Longevity - Flipbook - Page 19
A second accomplishment has been making
family caregiving more visible and supported.
Family caregivers have been the invisible backbone
of care in America as care needs have become
more complex. They help older adults remain in
their homes, manage medica琀椀ons, coordinate
appointments, navigate complex systems,
and provide support. Despite the $1 trillion in
es琀椀mated value of this work, caregivers have too
o昀琀en received too li琀琀le recogni琀椀on or assistance.
That began to change over the past decade.
Evidence, advocacy, state innova琀椀on, federal
ac琀椀on, and cross-sector leadership helped move
caregiving into the na琀椀onal conversa琀椀on. The
昀椀rst-ever Na琀椀onal Strategy to Support Family
Caregivers, developed a昀琀er passage of the RAISE
Family Caregivers Act in 2018, was a cri琀椀cal
milestone made possible through our publicprivate partnership with the Administra琀椀on for
Community Living and the Na琀椀onal Academy for
State Health Policy. Suppor琀椀ng caregivers is core
infrastructure for a longer-lived society and needs
to be reinforced over the next decade.
“Health-care systems func琀椀on
best when they recognize
people’s full humanity and
what truly ma琀琀ers to them.”
A third area of progress has been the
improvement of serious illness and end-oflife care, especially the spread of pallia琀椀ve
care, an interdisciplinary specialty focused on
improving quality of life for people living with
serious illness. The 昀椀eld has made meaningful
progress with 80 percent of hospitals o昀昀ering
pallia琀椀ve care services. A decadal assessment
of our grantmaking showed that our funding
increased access to services, trained thousands of
clinicians, in昀氀uenced public discourse, informed
public policy, and increased collabora琀椀on and
partnerships in the 昀椀eld. The growing emphasis on
age-friendly, serious illness care re昀氀ects a broader
lesson from the past decade: Health-care systems
func琀椀on best when they recognize people’s full
humanity and what truly ma琀琀ers to them. As we
move into the next decade, our founda琀椀on will
focus on improving access to pallia琀椀ve care in
community-based se琀�ngs.
The Next 10 Years: Building an
Interconnected Age-Friendly
Ecosystem
Challenges remain. Fragmented systems
force older adults and families to coordinate
disconnected health care and community
supports alone. Workforce shortages threaten
care delivery, and inequi琀椀es and ageism con琀椀nue
to do real harm. Longer lives are a monumental
achievement, but our policies must catch up so
these added years are well-lived.
Accountability means asking whether older
adults are healthier, whether they experience
be琀琀er quality of life, whether caregivers receive
meaningful support, and whether high-quality
serious illness care reaches everyone. Equity
cannot be a footnote. Improvements must reach
rural communi琀椀es, historically marginalized
popula琀椀ons, low-income older adults, and
caregivers.
The past decade showed that meaningful
progress is possible when diverse sectors unite
around the needs and aspira琀椀ons of older
adults. The next decade o昀昀ers an even greater
opportunity. When we rally around older adults,
we win. The next decade gives us the chance
to connect our health care, public health,
neighborhoods, and workplaces into a seamless
ecosystem. How we age won’t be de昀椀ned by
numbers, but by the compassionate choices we
make today.
A D ECA D E O F P RO GRE S S , A D ECA D E TO ACT 15
