Groundbreaking Public-Private Partnership Will Improve Elder Caregiving, Create Jobs

NEW YORK (July 7, 2016) – The Global Coalition on Aging (GCOA) has partnered with the EU’s European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) Health and a consortium of partners to launch the Caregiving and Ageing Reimagined Across Europe (CARE) initiative, a public-private partnership to share best practices and improve the quality of elder caregiving in Europe. Over 25 partner organizations joined GCOA and Imperial College London in Strasbourg on May 25-26 to launch the educational program, part of EIT Health CAMPUS, and chart a pathway forward.

Data shows that by 2060, the need for long-term care among Europe’s 80+ population alone is expected to triple, and the CARE initiative aims to be a solution addressing longevity and transforming elder caregiving.

“We are facing a 21st century demographic reality for which we are not yet prepared,” said Michael W. Hodin, CEO of GCOA. “The CARE initiative will benefit those already working in the field, families and communities helping their loved ones, health care professionals seeking to supplement their knowledge of elder caregiving to support their own professional needs, and employers trying to understand the needs of their employees challenged with elder caregiving.”

Another main focus of CARE is to provide a pathway to increase employment opporutnities in elder caregiving, especially for the young and unemployed. Through new training tools and education platforms, CARE will help close the growing gap between qualified elder caregivers and the exploding need for high quality elder care across Europe.

GCOA represents global corporations across industry sectors with a comprehensive and systemic understanding of aging. GCOA members Aegon, Home Instead Senior Care, Nestlé Skin Health and Philips are all partners in the CARE initiative, contributed their expertise in best-in-class care to the development of the training tools and platforms for elder caregivers.

EASYCare – a global senior self-assessment tool created and led by Dr. Ian Philp – is a valued partner of GCOA and has been critical to the launch of the CARE initiative. “This is our opportunity to learn how to support older people and their caregivers in the ways that matter most to them,” Philp said. “We must not forget that as we set forth on this great journey together that improving elder caregiving across Europe will be a key factor for success.”

Professor Lefkos Middleton of the School of Public Health, Imperial College London and CARE lead investigator, co-chaired the May workshop with Hodin. “This is our opportunity to ensure that no older European receives anything but optimal elder care,” Middleton stated at the kickoff of the two-day workshop. “We are honored and excited to be answering that call.”

“We will bring the knowledge and contributions from public and private sector partners together to create tools that lead to 21st century innovations in skin care, nutrition, Alzheimer’s training and caregiving technology across care settings,” said Hodin. “Our work is dedicated to co-creating the best tools applicable for homes, institutional care and community-based population health settings.”

At the workshop, participants explored the landscape of aging in Europe, topics the knowledge and tools needed for deliviering quality care and the opportunity to scale these capabilities through CARE CAMPUS using state-of-the-art e-Learning technologies.

The EIT Health CARE initiative comprises stakeholders across business, NGOs, academia and policy, which have all pledged their commitment to the activity’s success:

• Imperial College London (Lead)
• Karolinska Institutet
• The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford (Oxford Institute of Population Ageing)
• City of Stockholm
• RISE SICS Swedish ICT AB
• Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (Inria)
• Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft e.V. (Fraunhofer IIS)
• Medtronic INC.
• Leyden Academy on Vitality and Ageing
• Université Grenoble Alpes
• Nestlé Skin Health
• EUROCARERS (European Association Working for Carers)
• LOMDESS
• EASYCare (UK)
• Hakisa
• Bavarian Research Alliance GmbH (BayFOR)
• La Compagnie des Aidants
• DYNSEO
• Aegon
• Philips
• Ireland Smart Ageing Exchange
• Global Coalition on Aging (US)
• Home Instead Senior Care (US)

For more information visit: www.eithealth.eu or contact [email protected].