Georgians need fair and equal access to healthcare at home

We are in a healthcare crisis.

We have more senior citizens, a rising cost of food and living, and a healthcare system that is unable to support the volume of patients and care needs. According to the 2021 U.S. Census Bureau, Georgia’s fastest-growing age group is the 65 and older population — increasing more than 3.2 percent between 2020 and 2021 alone. Not only does Georgia have a large senior citizen population, but 10 percent of those over 65 live in poverty, according to the Georgia Department of Human Services Division of Aging Services. 

Access to healthcare is a basic human right, yet so many either don’t have health insurance, have no transportation to get to their appointments, or cannot afford to get the care they need.  

In addition to a lack of access to care, there are simply not enough clinicians and caregivers available to help those in need, and the problem is only mounting. Data analyzed by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2020 found that one in five adults in Georgia are caregivers and that 30 percent of those provide care for at least 20 hours a week. As the senior population continues its staggering growth, it’s easy to imagine that the demand for home health services will increase exponentially. 

So we ask: What is the backup plan for a healthcare system that can’t support such an influx of patients? Because we must do better. 

For Visiting Nurse Health System, providing access to quality healthcare is not new to us. It has been part of our mission since day one when we opened our doors on Peachtree Street in 1948. As Georgia’s first and largest nonprofit provider of healthcare and aging at home for 75 years, we’ve had the privilege to be Georgia’s safety net to healthcare, including serving low-income seniors with nowhere else to turn for their home healthcare and aging needs. 

We know most older adults want to age at home — 97.5 percent of adults ages 65 and older want to remain living in either their own home or in the home of someone else, according to a recent Harvard University study — yet the cost of living continues to increase, and they are finding it more difficult to pay for housing and healthcare. In response to this crisis, we often see healthcare sacrificed.

Organizations like Visiting Nurse help to bridge this cost-of-living crisis by providing true charitable care visits, which bring healthcare into the home for individuals in our community who are unable to cover the cost of care. We make nearly 9,000 charitable care visits each year while providing healthcare for approximately 15,000 patients annually across 57 Georgia counties. By caring for patients in their own homes, we have the unique ability to see patients’ needs beyond the traditional healthcare setting, including the social determinants of health needs, like food, transportation, housing and social isolation. 

What does all this look like in “real life?” If you stepped into a home visit and met one of our patients, Thomas, you’d learn he wants to remain independent and living in his own home, not a nursing home. In order to do so, Thomas relies on his wheelchair to not only get around his house but also to MARTA for transportation to the grocery store, to his doctor’s appointments, and most importantly to him, his church.  

When Thomas’ electric wheelchair broke one day, he felt that he had lost that independence and had all but lost hope. He was dependent on this tool, yet he didn’t have the resources or a family caregiver to navigate the healthcare system so that his wheelchair — his lifeline — could be replaced. Situations like this are when our case managers can step in and truly make a difference. After being confined for several months, Thomas was able to get a new wheelchair because the Visiting Nurse case manager worked with our network of providers and expedited the process. 

This is just one of hundreds of examples of meeting our seniors where they are and providing them with the resources and opportunities to age on their own terms and with dignity. This is why it “takes a village” to help solve our current healthcare crisis and ensure our seniors have access to the care they need.  

Of course, we could not do this alone. Our “village” includes healthcare partners throughout the state who work with us to help reduce hospital re-admissions. Together, we provide access to necessary medical care while also assessing the patient’s needs carefully to avoid any unnecessary return trips to the hospital, delivering a full continuum of care necessary for patients to make a safe transition home. And because we’re a community-based organization, other partners include nonprofits that provide support services that help our patients with their daily living needs so that we can intervene before a crisis occurs. 

All of these factors play into the healthcare crisis facing our state as the need for services grows every year. And this crisis is not just an issue impacting older adults. 

Every community member and employer should care about a healthier community and health care access for all. A 2022 Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers white paper revealed that close to one-third of caregiver employees voluntarily left a job at some point during their careers because of caregiving responsibilities. When caregivers are not supported, their loss of productivity and exit from the workforce impacts Georgia’s economic stability. We must come together as a state to challenge these outcomes and create better environments for our neighbors. Care for one is care for all.

We need your help.  

We invite you, our community, to join us in stopping this healthcare crisis by investing your time, talents or treasures in organizations that support our seniors so we can improve health outcomes for our state’s most vulnerable.