Election is over: What’s next for senior care providers?

Let me first say this: “Whew!”

It was a long campaign. It wasn’t always pretty or nice. There was mud slinging on every side of every issue. Often it seemed that the strength of some people’s passion overruled their sense of basic human decency, not to mention a sense of decorum desirable in a prominent elected official.

We have big issues ahead of us in the coming years. We’ll need to put aside our partisan passions and tap into our passion for quality care for seniors and for the strength of this industry.

We’ll need to advocate for decent pay, training and benefits for senior care workers throughout the US, because if we don’t someone else will (carrying a potentially big stick).

We’ll need to work hard to continue to improve the quality of care provided in senior living communities from the inside out, rather than wait for increased governmental oversight and regulation.

We’ll need to continue to demonstrate not only the social benefits of senior care in our care communities, but also the economic benefits to a society that will soon be staggering under the mounting pressure of an aging population.

We’ll need to embrace technology and clearly recognize a generation of younger people who have felt – perhaps for the first time – the power of their voice and the strength of their vote. These young people were involved in a strong wave of technology-based communication that has changed the face of our society, probably in ways we won’t even recognize until some time in the future.

It’s a new day in America. None of the old problems are gone, but perhaps we can face them with new energy and new resolve.