On a balmy September afternoon, Persis Rodgers sits in her room at the home on Hawthorne Road she started three decades ago to care for the elderly. Her gaze is piercing. Her fingers clasped. She is fighting a headache she says she has had since last October. It is cutting under her eight braids “like a knife.”
Next to her is a walker she has to use to get around. These days, Mrs. Rodgers’ movements are slow – much like the people she still cares for.
“I’m an elderly person myself,” says the trained nurse, who has made caring for older persons her lifelong work.
“A lot of people don’t think about getting old,” she adds. She points out an indisputable fact: Unless we die, we age.
Following a world trend, the proportion of the elderly to the rest of the population is widening, while the number of people under 15 is declining.
In 1990, persons over 65 accounted for 4.8 percent of the population. Ten years later, they made up 5.2 percent of the 303,611 people counted in the Census.
The trend is reversing for children under 15. In 1990, 32.2 percent of the population was under 15. In 2000, the figure stood at 29.4 percent.
The proportionate increase in the elderly population might not appear to be that dramatic, according to Kelsie Dorsette, deputy director of the Department of Statistics and head of the Social Statistics Division, but it is significant enough to force policymakers into action.
“It is something to deal with. It is something that we were never really faced with because we were concentrating on our youthful population,” she said. “But now we realize that we are moving out of that stage. You will have a larger number of older people who have needs.”
The aging population has huge implications, according to demographers, social services experts and government officials, including the Minister responsible for Social Services Melanie Griffin, who says a bill regulating group homes like Persis Rodgers is being readied for the October legislative session.
“There are some concerns, in that an aging population would pose a challenge in regard to, perhaps, day care,” Mrs. Griffin said. “As that increases, that challenge will increase as well.”
The main contributors to this aging population are that people are becoming more educated, medical care is improving, and family planning is more widespread, which means that people are having less children, Ms. Dorsette said.
So as the population ages, the birth rate is being driven down. In the late 1980’s, there were 25 births per thousand people. Today, there are 18 births per thousand, according to figures from the Department of Statistics.
“Where as our mothers had large families, women now are having fewer children,” Ms. Dorsette said. “Not only are they having fewer, they are having them at a later age.”
The older the population gets, the greater the demand for health care, and other social services, according to Derek Osborne, an actuary at the National Insurance Board.
Mr. Osborne said more public funds will eventually have to be channeled to caring for the elderly, and less for the building of schools and the hiring of teachers.
There will have to be more residential facilities for the elderly, hospitals, better transportation and more recreational activities to occupy the aging group, he pointed out.
“It may mean higher taxes, because it costs more to provide for the elderly than it costs to provide for the young,” Mr. Osborne said.
The growing numbers of older persons is something NIB officials are becoming increasingly concerned about.
NIB’s main expense is the pension paid out every month. An elderly person collects anywhere between $200 and $800. In some cases, these funds are collected by group homes like Persis Rodgers.
The working population is becoming burdened by the demand for pensions, Mr. Osborne said.
“If there are fewer workers per pensioner, it’s going to mean that each worker is going to have to pay a bigger share so that we can meet expenditure that we are going to have to meet in 30 to 40 years’ time,” he said.
The population will continue to age, according to NIB projections.
In 1996, for instance, there were more children in the population than any other age group and very few people above 50. In 2026, an NIB chart indicates almost equal numbers in age groups 0 to 50 and many more elderly people.
The average age of the population is projected to increase from 25.9 in 1996 to 36.3 in 2026.
This trend indicates that the number of pensioners per person of working age increases each year. Significant increases in this ratio occur after 2016 indicating a rapidly growing group of pensioners compared to the group of workers.
NIB will have to make reforms if it is to keep from going broke, Mr. Osborne said.
“We will have to increase the contribution rate,” he said, “and possibly reduce benefit promises.”
But the needs of the elderly aren’t going anywhere, pointed out Carolyn Hepburn, Assistant Director of Social Services and head of the Senior Citizens Unit.
And that is why homes like Persis Rodgers must be monitored, she said.
“We know that a number of people desire and this is their lifelong dream to be an owner of a home for senior citizens,” Ms. Hepburn said. “A dream is alright, but in reality, it requires a lot of work and it requires stakeholders such as community nursing and lawyers.”
The new bill would require facilities to have a functioning board working for the better care of older persons.
There are only about seven homes like Persis Rodgers in New Providence, she said, but the aging population will require more.
“There will be a larger number of persons needing the care,” she said. “My greatest concern is that there are homes that take seniors who are bedridden. They are mentally challenged. And the staff is not equipped medically, nor academically.”
Care for the elderly is going to have to start with more families taking responsibilities for their parents and grandparents, she added.
“Our seniors are our parents,” Ms. Hepburn said. “They are our heritage. They are our archives. Why should we be careless with them? Why can’t we have a place of safety for them the same as we have a place of safety for the children?”
Minister Griffin added that, “Our senior citizens have been the backbone of the nation and certainly I think in their twilight years, they need to be cared for properly.”
But some older persons are abandoned by their families because they may have mistreated their children, Ms. Hepburn pointed out.
Mrs. Rodgers said this has been the case for some of the more than 100 senior citizens who have passed through her home over the years.
“The sad part about it is that many of these children say they don’t have any space in their house for mommy or daddy,” Mrs. Rodgers said. “Some say, ‘I just have space for me and my children.'”
According to a social services official, the Persis Rodgers Home is getting more than $70,000 in government subsidies a year. But Mrs. Rodgers said she is barely getting enough to run the home.
“We are here on a wing and a prayer,” said Mrs. Rodgers, who is almost thankful for her yearlong headache, given that some of the 26 residents at her home are battling Alzheimer’s.
While Mrs. Hepburn, the senior citizens department director, pointed out that keeping an elderly person in his or her family setting is most desirable, Lillian Basden, a resident at Persis Rodgers Home, said she is happy being in the company of people her age.
When she was younger and stronger, Mrs. Basden was the welfare officer at the home.
“I don’t have to work. I just have to keep my mouth shut,” she laughs. “I’m accustomed to being here. It’s not such a strange place.”
