By: James Watson

Senior-Care, a Growing Industry

There is a lot of popular discussion surrounding the senior care industry, its outstanding positive growth trend and the factors that are contributing to it. It is commonly understood that this growth is due to, in a very large degree, an aging population that is increasingly using the industry’s products and services.

My blog article focuses on this understanding, highlighting that while the aging population is certainly increasing their demand, questions remain as to how different demographic factors are playing into it.

For example, is the sheer size of this aging population contributing to the outstanding growth boasted by home health care agencies or are there other factors that are much more influential? Careful critical thought and analysis must be applied when trying to understand this.

Home Healthcare Agencies | Homecare

The idea for all of this came to me while I was browsing some industry relevant blogs and literature on the internet. I came across a pair of blogs – one whom cited the other – that I found especially interesting. The first article I read was Growing Aging Population a Myth? Yes According to This Analyst, written on behalf of the SeniorCareMarketer.com Blog. The author is responding to an article written by Daryl Davis titled, Home Healthcare Industry: Ghosts in the Demographic Machine. The first article (SeniorCareMarketer.com) concludes about Davis’ article:

“The article [by Davis] was written from an investment perspective and the author suggests not investing in this industry because in his opinion the growing aging population is a myth and does not support the dramatic growth of HHAs [Home Healthcare Agencies].” (SeniorCareMarketer.com)

The problem is that this judgment by SeniorCareMarketer.com is in stark contrast to what is actually presented in Davis’ article. Davis never suggests that investing in the home healthcare industry is a bad idea. All he is trying to explain is that telling investors the home healthcare industry is a great investment because of a growing senior population is misleading. There are other factors contributing to its growth.

Aging Population is Not a Myth

SeniorCareMarketer.com’s response to Davis’ article appears to be a defensive reaction to what it interpreted as a direct attack upon a popularly held belief about the causes of an industry’s growth, rather than a thoughtful critique of the true content of Davis’ article. It highlights this discussion of growth, in particular the idea that the allegedly burgeoning size of the aged population is the predominating factor.

Davis never implies that the aging population is a myth. In actuality, he affirms it. Using United States census data to infer the proportionate size of the aging population most likely to employ home healthcare agencies (generally defined by Davis as those aged 75 and above), Davis finds that the outstanding economic growth boasted by home healthcare agencies is much greater than the growth in size of that particular demographic. In other words, the growth in the number of seniors entering the marketplace only because they are getting older cannot entirely account for the growth of the home healthcare agencies. Since Davis was only taking an individual’s age into account for his analysis, other forces must be factoring into the industry’s growth.

On an encouraging note, Davis concludes that once the real majority of the baby-boomer demographic begins to require homecare services in fewer than 10 years from now, their sheer demographic size will drastically affect the industry and become a leading factor in its growth. Couple that with all of the other positive factors playing into the mix right now and the picture looks very rosy.

Deciphering the Causes for Growth in Senior-Care

As this example of the home healthcare industry shows, it may be that the sheer size of the aging population is not the predominate factor in the growth each of us professionals observe and talk about within this senior-care industry. Maybe it is mostly changing attitudes on the part of the consumer. Maybe professionals are engaging the community better, improving education and collaborative efforts. There could be some structural factors too – like political lobbying and institutional reform – that are helping to create new markets. This should be encouraging because we all know that the population wave is coming eventually too.

So rather than unabashedly buying into the popular rhetoric being thrown around, it is necessary to diligently uncover and examine all the facts before making a statement about it. We must think critically about the marketplace and its varying degrees of complexity – seek to understand all of the factors affecting it. For the better of both sides of the equation – those providing a service and those receiving it – everyone must commit to this due diligence of statement and thought or else we risk misinforming and misleading.

I have got to admit it’s one of those weeks. My creativity lacking, I therefore have chosen to post one of these ’About Premier’ pieces. Enjoy, and I will hope that my writer’s block will disappear before the next scheduled post. Everyone have a great long weekend!     - James Watson

Our Caregiving Team

Our home caregivers are committed, highly qualified and carefully selected individuals who are personally and thoroughly screened, bonded and insured. We take great pride in our team of professional caregivers who are out there in the community assisting our clients each day with smiles and helping hands. Read about what our Caregivers are saying in our Testimonials.

Why our caregivers stand out from the crowd:

• Extensive reference, criminal, sexual offence and Driver Motor Vehicle (DMV) background checks on all of our employees.
• Compassionate and dependable individuals with a genuine respect for seniors and the aging process.
• We hire Personal Support Workers with current CPR and First Aid Certifications. This education coupled with plenty of experience, both professionally and personally, makes our caregivers well-rounded individuals.
• Our caregivers engage in a Continuous training program with specialized curriculum designed by Premier Homecare Services. Training opportunities also present themseleves through our collaborations with The Alzheimer Society of Toronto, Parkinson Society, Arthritis Society, the Hellen Keller Centre, Toronto Public Health on Fall Protection, the Fraud Squad Dept. of the Toronto Police Department and more.
• They receive competitive wages in the industry and are employees of ours who are bonded and insured.
• We recognize excellence in caregiving with our “Caregiver of the Quarter Award.”

Personalized Service

At Premier Homecare Services we meet and assess the needs of each client personally during our free in-home Assessment and remain available to all family members. We are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All services and schedules are tailored to the needs of the individual client. Our caregivers are available for hourly, overnight, 24-hour ‘awake and alert’ and live-in assignments. We carefully match our caregivers to the specific needs and personality of a client, and personally introduce the caregiver to the client and family member – a unique difference. We have caregivers who speak a variety of languages and come from a variety of cultural backgrounds.

At Premier Homecare Services we choose to make a positive difference in the lives of our clients and their families. Our professional and compassionate caregivers are a direct reflection of this commitment.