There is an American epidemic of frail elderly that threatens to overwhelm our healthcare system and bankrupt medicare and medicaid. In terms that we all now understand, Marc asks, what can be done to flatten the curve? Is it too late to avoid to a collapse of our healthcare system? Can we overcome an expanding caregiving gap and avoid an already unfolding caregiving crisis? Can we enable a desirable quality of life for older adults?
We live in an overtly ageist culture that threatens the quality of all our lives in countless ways; from our own internal belief systems about what’s possible as we age to the care and services provided by the healthcare, insurance, fitness, caregiving and senior living industries.  Without a major cultural shift, we’ll continue to not only underestimate but also dehumanize older people in order to  “conserve limited resources.” 

Older adults have been brainwashed into believing that decline is inevitable and recovery from many physical setbacks is unrealistic. The medical profession is quick to over prescribe medication before lifestyle modification for older patients, and potentially lifestyle-preserving surgeries are advised against or denied because of a patient’s age and “the limited potential for benefit.”  In the aftermath of surgery, many physical therapists dramatically underestimate the potential for recovery and default to walkers and wheelchairs when far more is possible. And older patients, already suffering the effects of decades of incessant ageist brainwashing, far too readily accept the advice of experts that “this is a normal part of aging” and hoping for more is not only unrealistic but dangerous.  

The monumental challenges to successful aging have  been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting social isolation making access to all kinds of healthcare including behavioral health far more difficult for older people to access. The result is a staggering increase in trauma and stress related disorder (TSRD), substance abuse, and suicidal thoughts among older Americans.

It is now more important than ever to break down ageist stereotypes and help older adults and the healthcare, fitness, caregiving, and senior living industries make the fundamental shift in mindset from focusing on loss and limitation to passion and possibility. Marc shares the power of prehabilitation, the dangesr of surplus safety, and the need for creative adaptation and accommodation through the stories of real people who have managed to overcome the ageist messaging that controls most of us. 

While many older adults will indeed become the frail elderly that our healthcare and fitness industries are geared to serve, there is a new, large and growing wave of healthy, robust 60, 70, 80, and 90 year olds that are determined to continue their active lives and will be seeking support from those who share their vision. Seventy is not the new fifty.  Seventy is the new seventy and it’s past time for America to wake up and catch up.