10 Years for Victoria Eldercare and Baby Boomers are Changing Homecare

Victoria Eldercare has just celebrated 10 years in the Senior Support business in the tri county area (Norfolk, Haldimand, Elgin). We have grown from humble beginnings operating out of a single room at a small health facility to a full and modern office in the Roulston’s Wellness Center in Simcoe. We employ 40 wonderful caregivers that help seniors and disabled people to live safely in their own homes or apartments. In early 2005, when I began researching homecare as a possible business opportunity, I had to explain to people what it was and why it was needed! It is amazing to see how the public demand and knowledge of what homecare is has increased so dramatically in the last few years.

Homecare today is focused on the parents of the Baby Boomers. Boomers parents are now well into their eighth decade and many in their nineties. They need assistance now to be able to live at home, but this is a small part of the story of what is going to happen to demand. The oldest Baby Boomers are now turning 75 and there are literally millions following those first boomers. The real demand for homecare, the crunch, as we in the business call it, is coming over the next 10 years. As the Baby Boomers head into their mid-eighties. It will be more and more difficult for homecare companies to keep up with demand.

Victoria Eldercare is preparing now by investing in our caregivers. I feel that if our caregivers are motivated, dedicated and earn a fair and competitive wage then they will be there for our seniors when they are needed. It will be more and more difficult to find caregivers and we may see a time when it is necessary to import workers from other countries to keep up with demand.

Home Care has also become a political issue as well. It is well known that seniors are dedicated voters so any political party that wants the senior vote had better prioritize home care if they hope to be elected or re-elected in the future. The present government is trying various funding models and tweaking the system that now exists. Tweaking will probably not be enough to handle the overwhelming demand for home care services that is coming. I envision a complete re-build of the system from top to bottom.

The Baby Boomers have transformed every institution that they have touched, they changed the education system, the job market and the housing markets and before they fade into history, they will radically transform how we deliver and fund home care and end of life care.

Dr. Bruce Veltri is co-owner and founder of Victoria Eldercare, a family owned and operated Home Care Agency. Victoria Eldercare can be reached at 519-429-2644, our website, victoriaeldercare.com or our Facebook page. Contact us today for a free assessment with one of our case mangers.