One thing we all have in common is that we will all age

COVID-19 has threatened the health, services, living arrangements, and interactions of older adults.

Across the world there have been so many accounts of illnesses, hospitalisations, and deaths impacting the older population.

The pandemic has laid bare many things and it has crystallised what many of us knew but had not faced head-on before. We are left to wrestle with the question of, “How did we get here?”

However, we have an opportunity to make considerable changes. We know what impacts healthy aging. We know what we now need to go back and correct.

I think the cruel irony of COVID-19 will be that while there have been many losses, this will be the catalyst that helps save older lives in the future.

It will require us to look at how we view older lives. It will require us to take an inventory of the services, investments, and opportunities available to provide a stronger system of longterm care for older individuals.

I would want everyone to value what it means to aged. You have to value something before you will invest in it, and I think for far too long, we have accepted a view of aging as one of decline, one of loss, one of decreased value, and that is simply not true.

As you age, you have opportunities to continue to contribute, you have opportunities to live longer, thrive longer, and to be a valued part of our society.

We fully understand what impacts how we age throughout our life span: more investments earlier on, more often, and in the aging must not stop at the front door of a provider or a facility. Rather, our strategies have to contemplate many things such as critical-care transitions or appreciating what individuals desire in living healthy lives, understanding this will require us to be very intentional.

Almost everything is possible if you maintain health into older age. However, if you don’t, many of your opportunities will be limited and the potential cost for all of us will be considerably higher.

Healthy aging requires us to think about how we age across the life span. Healthy aging requires us to think about how we incorporate strategies and policies broadly and apply them often.

Old age cannot be seen as a burden because if we view it that way, we will have a natural tendency to focus on things that are limited to cost containment or to focus on things that do not necessarily allow us to be very bold and very innovative.

However, if you think of old age as an opportunity for all of us to have a dignified life, then we are going to invest in those services for older individuals.

The landscape of long-term care or healthy aging is ever evolving, and it has been accelerated by COVID-19 says Ursel McElroy

The cruel irony of COVID-19 will be that while there have been many losses, this will be the catalyst that helps save older lives in the future

right places and spaces will make healthy aging a reality for most of us and not an aspiration.

Professional lessons in terms of health equity is simply about changing the narrative and being willing to invest in long-term strategy rather than short-term fixes.

I think it’s vital for people to understand that each one of us has our own lived experiences and there’s value in that. Those experiences are as unique as the fingerprints on our hands.

It is more important than ever to be certain that we have long-term care providers, families, and individuals who are agile enough to adapt to the diverse needs and preferences of older individuals

The emphasis on healthy McKinsey on Healthcare podcast, McKinsey partner Dr. Pooja Kumar talked to Ursel J. McElroy, director of the Ohio Department of Aging about a need to change the accepted narrative on aging

June - July 2022

BUILDING MORE THAN JUST AN ASSET