I’m surprised they aren’t already trying to attract immigrants. That was the first thing that popped into my head too. We’ve done that for nurses for years, because of the nursing shortage. To get new visas for immigrants they need to work hand in hand with the federal government.
The state can give away housing and land as a way to attract people to move to the state. Maybe make the deal available for people who work only in the geriatric care industry. Just one person in the household needs to work in that profession.
Create a safe city like in The Netherlands so more people who have dementia can live safely, and maybe not need one on one help as much. Here is a link to a longish video about it that covers the history of how it developed and how it functions. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LwiOBlyWpko Basically, you can think of it like a walled city. It has a grocery store and restaurant, but no money changed hands, open courtyard to be outside The patients can do normal daily things but can’t wander off outside of the safety of the property. They decorate so it feels like 40–50 years ago because Alzheimer’s patients typically have stronger memories from the past. Here is a shorter clip if you don’t want to see the entirety of the other video. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MW8SP-ZGVCM I recommend the long one though if you can get through it. Gupta talks to patients and several caregivers.
Where I live we have facilities that have varying stages of care. Most of you know I live in a retirement city full of activities you can do. Most people live in their own single family house, but we do have apartment style housing both rental and ownership, where the monthly fee is fairly expensive, and different levels of care. There is independent living, where the person doesn’t need help at home, but they get one or two meals made for them every day, and they can use the transportation shuttle that takes them to the stores and to the activities in The Villages, the same ones I attend. Plus, there are activities inside the facility. As they age and need more help they graduate to a different level of service in the facility. Since these are built in a city that people want to live in that helps with staffing, but my bet is we still have some trouble staffing these places. Better pay will help attract people. People who live in The Villages work there and also you get people who live outside of the town.
My city is a test pilot for home monitoring. They put sensors throughout the home and an alert is sent if someone is in bed all day, or doesn’t move around enough, doesn’t go to the bathroom, etc. The alert might just go to a family member or can be more of an emergency.
Robots. If robots can help reduce some of the workload.
One or more of the European countries has a program for college students to live for free with older citizens. They get free housing, can help the older person and the older person helps by imparting wisdom and they both have some companionship. It isn’t older citizens who need significant care though. Maybe they pair them with like interests? That would be good. Engineering students with engineers, etc.
I think the federal government will have to get involved eventually. Whether it be work visas for immigrants or funding facilities and towns or subsidizing pay for caregivers.
The pay is a big deal I think. In home caregivers who work for a company generally get paid very poorly and so it attracts a lot of people who don’t care much about their job nor doing a good job.
The thing about the caregivers is you want the people giving care to like the job, or at least not hate it.
