Increasing numbers of people in the United States and Canada, as well as in countries throughout the world, are living signifi cantly longer lives than
ever before, and for the most part, this is a very good thing. However, at the same time, it is also important to acknowledge that older people, and especially the very old who are age 85 and older, often have serious physical, mental, and emotional health problems and other needs that cannot or should not be ignored by others. As people attain the age at which most people regard them as elderly (age 65 and older), they frequently need the care and attention of others, such as their doctors and family members. Sometimes those other individuals are their own very busy middle-aged adult children who are struggling with managing their careers, caring for their children (and sometimes even their grandchildren), paying their mortgages and other bills, and coping with their own health problems. Often these adult children are exhausted by their current struggles to somehow balance the time and money needed to manage their multiple and complex responsibilities. It is also true that sometimes these “adult children” are actually age 65 and older themselves, and they are elderly retirees struggling to help their elderly parents who may be 85 years old or older.

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