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  • 2 days ago
Trinidad and Tobago is living longer, but are we prepared to care for an ageing population?
Gerontologist and former Director of the Division of Ageing, Dr. Jennifer Rouse, says greater priority must be given to the needs of older citizens, while ensuring caregivers have the support they need.
TV6's Nicole M. Romany tells us more...
Transcript
00:00Former director of the Division of Ageing, Dr. Jennifer Rouse, says the conversation around ageing has shifted from a social
00:08concern to more of an economic one, as a longer life expectancy brings greater demands for care and support.
00:15Recently, in the last elections, which was 2025, what the EBC did, which was so good, they did a snapshot
00:23survey because they wanted an idea of what their voting bloc looked like. And when they did this, like a
00:30representative sample to know, well, who comprised this? They got a thousand centenarians in this bloc. The eldest was 1
00:41,12.
00:421,000 centenarians existing? In this little representative sample, like going door-to-door? Yes. Yeah.
00:51She tells the Morning Edition, while older citizens must be prioritised, caregivers also need greater support to ensure they provide
01:00quality care.
01:01Caring the carers. Maybe I should ask you, what are some of the challenges caregivers face? Burnout, head in the
01:08list.
01:08And Dr. Rouse says the approach to elderly care must also change, with more dignified and age-appropriate facilities needed
01:18to meet the needs of an ageing population.
01:20I don't want something called a home for the age. No. I want it, and that's when I started lobbying
01:27for assisted living facilities, which are dominant in the global, and you live now in a communal setting and independent.
01:39You can have your own suite or whatever. And that would serve us better because of the unmarried and all
01:45these different people.
01:47So that has now started to blossom, in case you didn't know.
01:51Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
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