Addressing Diversity in Eldercare Populations

This article from RiseUP magazine discusses the changes the MetroHealth nursing home in Cleveland made to become more welcoming to increasing numbers of Hispanic patients. Changes included offering Spanish-language television, the ability to room with another Hispanic resident, and more Hispanic volunteers and Latin American foods.

The population of Hispanic seniors will grow the fastest, from just over 2 million in 2005 to 15 million in 2050. From 2006 to 2050, the percentage of African-American seniors will jump from 9 percent to 12 percent. And while Asian senior citizens currently make up about three percent of the elderly population, their numbers will more than double as early as 2040.

Experts say this diversity will have a deep impact on society — from the number of seniors with certain chronic conditions to the languages that health care workers speak; to the foods served at a day center to the ways and convince seniors to stay healthy.

A more diverse senior population is a plus for everyone, says Dilworth-Anderson, who is also the director of the Center for Aging and Diversity at the University of North Carolina.

For example, many black and Hispanic elders are cared for by a wide network of friends and family. Recognizing that tradition, doctors can make similar suggestions to ethnic groups that have not historically embraced that practice, Dilworth-Anderson says. “The richness of diversity can help us in problem solving.”

A report issued in March by the Federal Interagency Forum on Aging Related Statistics, which compiled data from 15 government agencies, found that, as a whole, today’s elderly are healthier and wealthier. But significant disparities remain, especially for blacks and Hispanics. The report found that almost 20 percent more black seniors than white seniors suffer from hypertension.

About 16 percent of white seniors are diabetic, while 29 percent of blacks and 25 percent of Hispanics have the disease.

“You’re going to have a larger percentage of minorities and still have an increase, in general, in the numbers of senior citizens,” says Dilworth-Anderson. Indeed, the total senior population is expected to jump from about 12 percent now to 20 percent by 2030.

The article also discusses how similar facilities are handling increasingly diverse populations, including the Long Life Adult Day Care Center in Bergen County, New Jersey, where Korean seniors meet every day.

Providing so-called “culturally sensitive,” care for the elderly is nothing new, but experts say it will be more important as the numbers of elderly minorities climb.

Wallace, associate director of UCLA School of Public Health, says many food programs for the elderly rely on government assistance, providing meals that are often far from ethnic. Even something as simple as getting rice at every meal — a feature that would make many Asian seniors more comfortable — can be a challenge.

“It’s simple things like, how you prepare chicken. Do you prepare it in a way that a Mexican senior would recognize? Or do you make chicken cacciatore from Italy.”

The questions are not trivial. Seniors who don’t eat well, don’t fare well, he says.

HFA's April 2009 national teleconference will focus on ways of understanding diversity and how cultural histories, traditions and beliefs can affect end of life care. Site coordinator registration will begin in late September.