Editorial: Growing old gracefully in rural and remote Australia?
Editorial: Growing old gracefully in rural and remote Australia? Journal Article
Australian Journal of Rural Health
- Author(s): Spelten, Evelien R., Burmeister, Oliver K.
- Published: 2019
- Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
- Volume: 27
- ISBN: 1038-5282
Abstract: This special issue is being published at a time where our nation is waiting for the interim report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. In addition, the COTA (formerly known as Council on the Ageing) Australia recently held a Public Policy Forum on the need to challenge ageism, which is defined as prejudice or discrimination on the grounds of a person's age. And often the assumption is that age discrimination increases with advancing age. Thus, this focus on older persons’ health is timely, particularly given that this special issue is focused on the needs of rural, regional and remote seniors. Ageing undeniably comes with frail health, increased care needs and approaching death. And it is reassuring to know that good quality and safe aged care facilities are considered to be important enough to warrant a Royal Commission. But as this special issue demonstrates, ageing is not just about institutionalised care, illness and death. There is more to ageing, and there is more to seniors. And this is especially true in rural and remote areas, where there is limited availability of aged care facilities to begin with. We have a rapidly ageing population, that is also wealthier, better educated, better housed and contributes more to both paid and volunteer work. With this growing ageing population, it is the challenge for our rural health care system to relate to this population and to align our system of health care with their needs, which might be more diverse and not fitted to a “one size fits all seniors” approach.