Meeting the challenges of health care for the elderly

The improvement and expansion of health care for our older population, that is, those over the age of 65, must now be a major priority of all health care providers. It is expected that the number of older Americans will grow from approximately 23 million today to approximately 55 million by the year 2030. This increase will place unprecedented demands on all segments of the health-care community, including nurses, psychotherapists, administrators, technicians, physicians, teachers, and allied health professionals, among many others. Gerontology is a relatively new and broad field of study, encompassing the clinical, biological, and social aspects of aging. Thus, we are faced with tremendous challenges in trying to create a medical and social system which responds to the varied and growing demands of caring for the elderly. It is the goal of the National Institute on Aging, and we hope the goal of all allied health professionals, to use all resources available to us to learn more about the processes of aging and to translate this knowledge into specialized services and medical care for older people.