A “cabinet” of State agencies should be formed to co-ordinate services for older citizens and combat ageism in Dublin, a home care conference will hear on Friday.
Dublin could usefully replicate the creation last year of the Cabinet for Older New Yorkers in the US city to make sure all generations can age well, according to the commissioner of New York’s Department for the Ageing.
Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez says cities around the world are facing “an explosion of greying” and need to adapt accordingly.
“It is not just the population in Ireland that is getting older; it is the world’s population,” Ms Cortés-Vázquez told The Irish Times, in advance of speaking at the annual conference of Home and Community Care Ireland (HCCI).
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“It was not easy getting to this point, but we didn’t let a good pandemic go to waste. We adjusted our programmes and services to meet the needs of older New Yorkers, and are continuing to break down silos and expand them to build the age-inclusive city we will need in the very near future.”
Chaired by Ms Cortés-Vázquez, the cabinet includes members from 23 New York agencies, covering areas such as public safety, housing, transportation, health and social services. The aim is to collaborate in eliminating age-related barriers and inequities in services and to develop solutions to address challenges specific to older people.
All current and future city initiatives are reviewed to ensure they are age-inclusive and accessible to adults over 60.
New York is home to 1.76 million people aged 60 and over, or 20 per cent of the total population. This figure has grown almost 40 per cent since 2000.
To ensure these older residents can stay in their communities, ageing services have been greatly expanded. Ms Cortés-Vázquez’s office has a budget of $570 million (€541.2 million)
Extra centres for older adults have been created as well as more retirement communities.
The city’s education department has begun teaching high school students about ageism, and initiatives have been developed to bring different generations together. “This is the last ‘ism’ in our society that needs to be brought to light,” Ms Cortés-Vázquez says.
After studies showed older people were most at risk of traffic accidents, research identified the kinds of crashes involved and recommendations on improving road safety were made.
Like Dublin, New York has large numbers of “asset-rich, cash-poor” older people. Ms Cortés-Vázquez says a lack of in-home support and housing are her two biggest “dilemmas”.
The city is exploring ways of incentivising people to move out of homes that are too big for their needs, including home-sharing and changes to zoning laws to allow for independent living within the family home.
To enable older citizens to stay in their own home, areas were identified where more older adults can apply for rent support and property tax freezes.
Meanwhile, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) has appointed older-adult liaison officers in every police precinct, and research is being conducted into the types of crime that affect older people.
Joseph Musgrave, chief executive of HCCI, will tell the conference the way ageing and care for older people is viewed needs to be rethought. “Women have shifted into the workplace but this influx of new workers is not enough to bear the costs of retirement, and we cannot rely on family carers to meet the care needs of our parents. We simply do not have the resources to keep going like this.”
Mr Musgrave will call on the Government to legislate for a statutory home care scheme. “This has been promised for over five years now. Giving everyone a legal right to home care will mean that we will have to reimagine our home care service so that it is capable of delivering for all those who want it – and all of us who will want it in the future.”
