Aged Care: Primary Healthcare and Service Delivery for the Elderly

Running head: AGED CARE 1
AGED CARE
Student’s Name
Institution Affiliation

AGED CARE 2
Aged Care
Recent research has proven that the world is aging and according to the statistical records,
an estimate of 600,000 million people in the globe are aged 60 years and above. Moreover,
the population of the aged is predicted to twofold by 2025, and it will range approximately 2
billion by 2050 (McDonald, 2016). The developing countries will host the majority of older
adults because they will be least prepared to face the challenges of rapidly aging
communities. Majority of aged often face the risk of having at least one of the protracted
diseases such as diabetes, osteo - muscular conditions, and hypertension (Dueñas et al.,
2016).On that note, it is essential that states need to be adequately prepared to discourse the
significances of demographic trends. Therefore, the countries need disease prevention
intervention, health promotion, and disease management strategy within a community level.
This essay illustrates the primary healthcare of the aged people and evaluates the manner of
resource allocation and service provision for the old people by use of the social capital
approach. In addition, it elaborates the health care service delivery for aged people.
The primary health care for the aged is guided by principles that will propagate a curative,
rehabilitative, palliative, preventive and promotive care (Leslie et al., 2016). Primary health
care for the aged facilitates the provision of health services that constitute of treatment of
health condition, diagnosis, and support in managing long term healthcare that can be a
chronic infection like diabetes or hypertension. The old need to see the health professionals
regularly for checks ups and health advises maintaining their good health condition. The aged
people can have health professionals such as the physiotherapist and dentist who can offer
medical services to them when their health problem is not an emergency.
The community health facilities for the aged can be provided in a community setting; thus
the primary healthcare provider can perform their duties in community health centers, allied
health practices and medical clinics (Willis, Reynolds & Keleher, 2016). Seemingly, the
2

AGED CARE 3
primary health care seeks to advise to the aged be able to manage depression and stress, stop
smoking, to be physically active and take balance diet to prolong their life span.
Availability of food is a fundamental necessity for the aged people since they are
vulnerable and their immune system has been weakened as a result of chronic illness.
Therefore, primary health care services need to provide appropriate food safety management
programmes. The food safety programs need to be audited by the regulatory food safety
auditor who has been approved under the Food Act 2001.The food programs aid in reducing
and prevention of the chronic illness among the older people through saturated fat, low fat
and the salt content in their meals. The primary health care service plays a significant role in
food delivery services to the aged thus by helping them to enjoy healthy and nutritious meals
regardless of the dietary restrictions, cultural background, and personal preferences.
Immunization is a crucial aspect of the primary health care services delivery to the aging
community. The vaccines help them to prevent the chronic diseases; thus the PHC ensures
that they get all their immunization shots on schedule (Linehan & Fitzgerald, 2015). The
shots prevent shingles which are responsible for causing rashes and pneumococcal disease
which causes blood infection and meningitis. Moreover, it aids the aged from acquiring
seasonal flu, tetanus, diphtheria, and whooping cough. Delivery of immunization services to
the aged in the community ensures the safety of the people around the older persons since
some diseases are transferable.
Availability of safe water among the aged is exceptionally significant since being hydrated
is regarded as anti-aging skin routine. It is, therefore, a duty for the PHC to facilitate the
delivery services of safe water to the aging community since water will make their skin to
glow. On that note, water has an active protective mechanism against some disease of the
aged people like heart disease (Bunn et al., 2015). It is evident that chronic dehydration
among older people could lead to illnesses such as hypertension, asthmas, heart disease,
3