Faith in the Future

Over the next several decades as our elderly population increases, there will be an equally dramatic increase of older people with chronic health problems and disabilities needing long-term healthcare. At the same time, the costs of providing that healthcare will continue to rise. Soon these demographic and health-economic trends will clash in what could well prove to be the most serious societal problem in modern history: widespread shortages of increasingly costly healthcare for the growing elderly population. This book looks at ways in which the whole community can network and become involved in the health and well being of its older citizens, as well as offering healthcare institutions themselves the opportunity to reorient their approach toward providing whole-person care that is cost effective and satisfying for patients and health professionals alike. The research and combined wisdom of internationally renowned leaders in medicine, healthcare policy, religion, government, the media, hundreds of professional healthcare and religious workers as well as lay members from various religious communities are presented in this book. It examines one of the most serious issues in today