America’s Health Rankings 2014 report shows Florida’s overall rank for Senior Health as 28th in the nation.

While this is certainly lower than we would like, the report also spotlighted great rankings on specific measures such as:

#1 on diabetes management for seniors

#3 on seniors’ use of hospice

#5 on percentage of seniors who were physically inactive (meaning most of us seniors are still active)!

A recent article in The Ledger  points out that Florida has the fourth-oldest median age nationwide and ranks 50th in its level of senior citizens with multiple chronic conditions. Yet we rank in the worst five states for our supply of home health workers with 26.9 for each 1,000 adults 75 and older compared with 299.6 for the best state.

This is a serious concern which will become more obvious as boomers age. It is suspected that Florida’s high use of ICUs in the final months of life can be tied to the limited number of home health workers available as well as a shortage of physicians trained in treating the elderly–denying seniors access to primary and specialty health care earlier in their illness.

But you do not need to fear, The Aker Kasten Home Health Care Agency recruits and retains only the best and brightest staff–our first criterion for candidates is what we call The SunShine Factor. Once a candidate demonstrates their calling into caring for others,they are subjected to thorough interviews, background and reference checks, and skills testing. After orientation training we commit to ongoing supervision and support, and provide continuing education for each caregiver.

Remaining independent in your home is important to you–so helping you enhance your quality of life is critical to us. Your Florida home health agency, Aker Kasten can help you remain physically active, take medications on time, enjoy social outings, and more.

Call us today at 561-955-6010 or email us to see how we can help improve Florida’s health ranking–by improving your health ranking!