Changing Aging

Have you seen the movie The Savages?

It’s an irreverent look at family, love and mortality through the experiences of two baby boomer children trying to find nursing home care for their estranged father who has dementia.

Many of America’s 78 million aging baby boomers should see it.  Check that: anyone who is aging (all of us) should see it.  The challenges the kids face in this movie are very real:

- How to find the right care setting for their father . . . their options are limited as his assets are gone.  His kids need to find a nursing home that will take Medicaid.

- How to juggle jobs and regular life while trying to be there for one’s parent.

- How to move a parent out of their home half way across the country and bring them closer to the child’s home.

As I watched the movie, I thought about a couple things that would potentially make life easier for all involved:

- A concierge service that the son and daughter could hire to help them figure out their choices for their father.

- A small household setting  where caregiving professionals specialized in dementia care rather than a huge institutional nursing home where the father had to share a room with a stranger.

- Electronic medical records that could be easily transferred from the father’s previous home in Arizona to a physician and to caregivers in New York.

I’m sure there are many other things that could make The Savages and life off-screen better.  It’s 2008.  It’s time to invent them.