18% of All Boomers Expected to Develop Alzheimer's

According to an article in March 18th's USA Today, "about 14 million, or roughly 18% of the USA's 79 million baby boomers can expect to develop Alzheimer's or some other form of dementia in their lifetime." This is an increase over what had previously been expected. As the article goes on to explain, "Americans are developing Alzheimer's at an accelerating rate."

This, of course, means more Direct Care Workers will be needed to fill future vacancies.

Yet, there are already massive Direct Care Worker shortages across the country. The 2004 Pennsylvania Long-Term Care Workforce Surveys report, a report to the PennsylvaniaIntra-Governmental Council on Long-Term care, found that the average vacancy rate among all providers was 9.2 percent... in 2004!

As the number of baby boomers continue to age and the rate of dementia increase, the need to focus on strategies to increase recruitment and retention of the Direct Care Workforce will become increasingly imperative.