Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Massachusetts seniors—where will they live?


I'm wondering where all the old folks will live, and this item in the March 24 Boston Globe caught my eye.

Massachusetts has 420 nursing homes, statewide, serving a population of about 7,750,000.

Roughly 1 million of those folks are seniors, 65 or older.

It seems that geezers in the Bay State aren’t knocking down the doors of those nursing homes.


Almost 60 nursing homes have been sold or closed within the last two years. About 5,000 beds in existing facilities are empty.

The senior population is growing steadily. Many of them won’t be able to stay in their homes, and many of them shouldn’t be in their homes without proper care. In the future we’ll need more nursing homes than we have now.

This is a serious issue of public health policy and a serious budgetary matter for the citizens of Massachusetts.

It’s an issue that will consume public resources and tax dollars. The state’s Public Health Council needs to get to work in a high profile way.









Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2015

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