There is a gap in elderly care

Despite progress in some areas, the reality is that there are still many gaps in the health, housing, food and recreational needs of the population over 60.

This was explained by David Leal Mora, chief of the geriatric department at the Civil Hospital of Guadalajara, who also emphasized that the population of this group is growing.

From a health point of view We don’t have enough infrastructure dedicated to managing older peopleWe started treating them in the health system 50 years ago, when the priority was the child and the mother.”

he emphasized Cities with high elderly populations are not kind to the industrySince there was no urban infrastructure to protect them and it started from the first square of the city, no modifications were seen.

“We also have no place to take care of the elderly without a family. Before the family was large, the mother stayed at home and the elderly had a place to live. Now there are few children and women are involved. Productivity, if there is an elderly person, he is alone. As long as he can support himself Self-sufficient, no problem, the problem is when he is dependent on someone for activities, the family doesn’t have the resources to take him to a place where he is cared for.”

Remember Guadalajara Civil Hospital is the first hospital outside Mexico City to offer geriatric services It has progressed since then as now they have highly specialized aged care units but the problem is this model of care has not been replicated in other health systems.

“Besides the infrastructure, human resources are lacking, and although the number of students in this profession has increased, it is still very scarce. It will take many years before we have enough resources, not just for elderly doctors, but also for this profession. Trained resources in the fields of nursing, physical therapy, nutrition and rehabilitation. Much of the care they receive is impromptu and unplanned.“.

As for the major diseases in elderly patients, he said that these diseases are chronic degenerative, and although their incidence does increase with age, many of these diseases do not start in aging, but in adulthood and continue into old age . Complications and sequelae caused by poor care, such as diabetes, hypertension, cerebrovascular accidents, and infections such as pneumonia.

“On the other hand, geriatric syndromes are conditions closely associated with aging, such as dementia, osteoporosis, incontinence, falls, frailty and malnutrition.”