Dear Sisters and Brothers:
Most of us are well aware of the increasing number of citizens advancing into the ranks of the older population in the USA. Those in positions related to this demographic phenomenon are calling it the “Silver Tsunami.” The website of Senior Living (link below) has compiled some pretty sobering projections of basic housing and nursing needs that our country is going to have to accommodate one way or another. They state that “The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that a person turning 65 today has a 70 percent chance of requiring long-term care services at some point in their golden years.”
This is a real issue! The Baby Boomer generation is massive. More than 11,200 Americans are turning 65 every day – or over 4.1 million each year – from 2024 through 2027, according to estimates from the Retirement Income Institute at the Alliance for Lifetime Income. It is easy to see then, that demand for some form of long-term care will continue to climb. Here are some of the facts and figures that Senior Living estimates we are looking at as a nation:
■ Boomers who are ages 60 to 74 represent about 20% of the population in more than one-third of the counties across the U.S.
■ By 2030, all Boomers will be aged 65 or older.
■ Our nation’s population is also getting older due to better health care. Boomers are living longer.
■ More than 3,000 new nursing homes could need to be built to keep up with demand as the older population expands.
The advancing age of “Baby Boomers” will impose on many of them the physical and mental stresses that require professional long-term care. Will the industry of institutional nursing care and the leadership of local, state and federal governments respond to address these projections? If there are not enough facilities to house those needing regular assistance with basic living needs, how will they survive? How many seniors in the near future will opt for in-home care?
We encourage you to take a minute to check out the seniorliving.org website. Obviously, this is a huge issue that will require major adjustments in the way we in the Church address nursing home ministry, not to mention America at large. There is a huge difference between Christian ministry to groups in a nursing home and ministry to increasing numbers of individual seniors isolated and insulated alone in their home – in “in-home care”!
We are sure our Father God is fully aware of these things and He has a plan for addressing the issues. The question is, who will make themselves available to respond to His leading toward the solution? Maybe you can help in little ways, maybe to one individual close to you. Maybe He would lead you to support and encourage and participate in a ministry to seniors that God has placed in the Christian community where you fellowship.
Certainly, ministry to shut-ins and elderly is not the only need in our community. There is youth ministry, jail ministry, crisis-pregnancy ministry, homeless ministry, families-in-stress ministry, and on and on. But ministry to those suffering under the ravages of age and infirmity is also a calling from our Lord. We know that many of you who receive this letter are already committed to the mission field of nursing home ministry. And we know that many of you are in the “Silver Tsunami” yourselves (as we are!). But we can help by being informed, by spreading the word, by getting involved as we are able, and, most of all, pray! …and, thank you for reading this letter!
Love in Christ,
Jerry and Dar Johnson