Aging in Santa Barbara: The Caregiver
The Dance of Objectivity, Facts, and Outcome
To follow up on Aging in Santa Barbara, which discussed the primary barriers for older adults who wish to remain in their homes, I want to talk about the needs of caregivers in our community. But first, some background information about the role caregivers are playing in their families and society.
As an adult child of an aging parent or a concerned friend or spouse, you can often see the warning signs. Your loved one is forgetting appointments or medications. Declining personal hygiene. Decreased engagement in leisure pursuits. Our loved ones are often stuck — they desire to maintain independence and fear admitting weakness will take that independence from them.
The 2021 AARP Home and Community Preferences Survey revealed 77 percent of older adults ages 50+ want to remain in their homes — a consistent number over the past 10 years. As a member of the Santa Barbara community and clinical professional that works with older adults after a hospital stay, I can confirm this anecdotally — older adults want to remain in their homes particularly given the connection they feel with their neighbors and their location. Why then, do I run into so many scenarios where older adults are faced with the decision to suddenly move?
