Senior Tourism in Turkey
In line with social expectations, developed countries strive to ensure that their elderly live happier lives and try to repay them for what they do during their productive time. For this purpose, they are obliged to allow mobility of the elderly towards countries where better care opportunities can be offered with appropriate conditions and acceptable costs. This necessity gives rise to elderly care tourism. Elderly care requires many non-routine services and practices. The care of the elderly is focused on ensuring that the elderly just get through the day; It is not a place where they sit behind the TV after eating, bathing, and simple daily exercises.
Keeping people whose physical activity potential decreases day by day due to old age as active as possible is the field of work of the elderly care staff. Many countries have produced various solutions in the fields of elderly care and elderly health tourism. By marketing these solutions they have developed over time, they have created the aged care industry and economy. In our country’s 10th Development Plan, which was developed for the 2014-2018 date range, elderly care was included in the targets under the title of “Advanced Age Tourism”. In the detailed action plan of the aforementioned Development Plan, “Developing the Personnel Working in the Field of Health Tourism in Quality and Quantity” was emphasized as a policy.
In particular, researches will be carried out on method development in elderly care, which will be constructed under the coordination of the newly established “Health Sciences University” and “Turkish Health Institutes Presidency”. In studies on elderly care services, planning should be done in a systematic holistic service approach, where individual differences can be achieved (individually oriented). In investments for the care of the elderly; physical, mental, cognitive problems, habits, cultural characteristics, possible medical needs should be taken into consideration. In elderly care services, models should be developed in which professionals from different fields of expertise can work in a coordinated interdisciplinary manner.
As the expectations of all the elderly are not the same, some of the elderly’s concomitant diseases or physical capacity differences have led to the emergence of sub-application areas for elderly care. It is possible to divide elderly tourism into several sub-titles. Considering the possibilities that our country can provide, it can be grouped under the following headings:
- Senior Health Care
- Senior care with chronic diseases
- Rehabilitation and treatment priority senior care
- Palliative (Thermal Period) senior care
Senior Health Care
An elderly person who is in good mental and mental health, can take care of himself independently, and does not have any contagious disease, alcohol or drug addiction is called a healthy elderly person. In essence, healthy elderly care defines the service group provided to the elderly whose vital activities are not affected by any disease, but for morale-motivation purposes or for a definite change in the environment.
They are generally found in the population over 65 years of age in developed countries such as Northern Europe, Japan and the USA. This large population is generally retired, well-off, not bedridden. Facilities targeting such elderly people must have diversified social opportunities. Facilities such as micro agricultural areas, entertainment venues, shopping environment, walking paths, age-appropriate physical activity areas and bicycle paths are the features that these facilities should have.
In these facilities, besides the elderly care technicians, a varying number of nurses, physiotherapists and at least one general practitioner should be employed depending on the bed capacity.
Senior Care With Chronic Diseases
A significant portion of the elderly over the age of 65 are being treated or kept under control due to at least one of the non-communicable diseases. This group should be hosted at certain times of the year in elderly care centers, modeled as occupational therapy, where better care and preventive medicine services are provided. This group of elderly people is generally the elderly with a chronic disease that does not require serious medical care. Routine health checks are required in addition to occupational therapy in planned care centers for the elderly with chronic diseases. Frequent chronic diseases; diseases or conditions such as diabetes, COPD, hypertension, coronary artery diseases, dementia, and anxiety.
In addition to elderly care technicians, a varying number of nurses, physiotherapists and at least one internal medicine specialist or preferably a geriatric specialist should be employed in these facilities, depending on the bed capacity. Basic laboratory services should be available. For example, individuals who are kept under regular control due to diabetes are hosted in such care centers at least once a year for 2 weeks, providing access to up-to-date information about life with diabetes and detailed controls. If it is impaired, re-regulation of diabetes is planned in these centers. Similarly, health care services are provided for the elderly with diseases such as hypertension and COPD. Thus, since the controls of elderly individuals with chronic diseases will be ensured, the development of complications secondary to possible chronic diseases will be prevented or delayed, and the cost of health services will be reduced and a healthy aging will be established as a result.
Rehabilitation and Treatment Priority Senior Care
It is the focus of health services that should be provided for the elderly, who constitute the most sensitive group of elderly care services. This group of patients is the elderly who need professional healthcare for a certain period of time, for example, after a coronary bypass surgery or after a hip replacement surgery. This group of elderly people will stay in specially planned facilities for an average of 1 month. These individuals need rehabilitation services due to the medical intervention they have undergone or the disease they are in. It is obvious that patients who receive rehabilitation services, especially due to stroke, will need longer stays.
Facilities established for this purpose must be able to provide basic hospital services. In addition to basic imaging methods and laboratory services, a rehabilitation infrastructure should be established. Elderly patients in need of dialysis should also be evaluated within this group. In addition, almost all insurances pay for dialysis patients who travel to another country for vacation, to have dialysis 2-3 times a week. Receiving care in another country for chronic diseases is only possible with mutual inter-country or institutional agreements. However, if an acute attack of a chronic disease develops during an elderly person’s travel for other purposes, this situation will be covered by emergency procedures, and insurances pay even if there is no mutual agreement. For example, an elderly person with controlled hypertension has a hypertensive episode, a diabetic patient has hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia, and an individual with osteoporosis has a hip fracture.
The establishment of these facilities in thermal regions should be a priority. In addition to elderly care technicians, a varying number of nurses, physiotherapists, social workers, at least one physical therapy and rehabilitation specialist, at least one internist or preferably geriatric specialist should be employed in the facilities, depending on the bed capacity. In addition, basic laboratory and imaging services must be available.
Palliative (Thermal Period) Senior Care
Due to the increasing elderly population and the care needs that emerged as a problem, regulations have been developed for the provision of palliative care services, especially in developed countries such as the USA, Sweden, Norway, Canada and England, since the last quarter of the twentieth century. In Germany, more than four thousand physicians received specialization training in the field of palliative care until 2010, and palliative services were opened in 220 hospitals so that these physicians would work. It is pleasing that similar practices have started in our country as of 2014. The most important reason for the rapid development of palliative care services is the increasing importance of providing the necessary care and treatment to patients whose life is under threat and whose treatment is not possible. Palliative care and treatment are not only aimed at eliminating the physical problems of terminal patients.
Meeting the social needs of the individual is also included in palliative care. This is achieved by the health personnel, on the basis of the bio-psychosocial model, knowing and paying attention to the psychological dimensions of sadness and grief in the social life of the sick individual, evaluating the previous and current situation and shaping the process, that is, interpreting the individual’s life holistically. Making such an assessment in palliative care plays an important role in improving the patient’s quality of life. For this reason, it is important to provide health services in accordance with the World Health Organization’s definition of palliative care to terminal patients.
Thanks to the legislation on palliative care prepared in 2015, knowing this subject and increasing awareness of the benefits it will bring for the care of life-threatening incurable diseases will make a meaningful contribution to our country. At this stage, the aim is; is to improve the quality of life in extended life span. Studies to improve the quality of life are especially concentrated in chronic fatal patients such as malignancy and in elderly individuals. The importance of palliative care centers in terms of health tourism is obvious. Both public and private sector investors should take a position in cooperation with universities to provide international service in this regard.
What Kind of Care is Provided in Palliative Care Facilities?
Palliative care is quality specialized care that understands and supports the unique needs of a person with a terminal condition who is nearing the end of life. This care is not just focused on the patient. It also includes a specially planned service for close family members. The aim is to help patients and their families improve their quality of life and live as well as possible. Planning of care; It is an important process in terms of ensuring that the wishes of the patient regarding the care are met.
Many people with a terminal condition and in need of palliative care are cared for by general practitioners and nurses. Health professionals providing this service are supported by specialist palliative care centers to ensure that all people receive the highest quality of care that meets their needs. Depending on the bed capacity, a varying number of nurses, physiotherapists, psychologists, social workers, clergy, and at least one physical therapy and rehabilitation specialist, at least one internist or preferably geriatric specialist should be employed in these facilities besides elderly care technicians.
Basic laboratory and imaging services should be available. As much as possible, the patient should be encouraged to participate in decisions made for the planning of his care and the management of his condition. If people are well-informed and participate in decisions about their treatment, and also communicate openly with their doctors and other healthcare professionals, they help to provide themselves with effective care. Therefore, the function of the social worker is very important.
Things to Know for Senior Health Tourism
- The aging of societies raises the issue of elderly care as an important public health problem. Physical, economic and psycho-social problems brought about by aging; It affects not only the elderly but also the health level and quality of life of the whole family.
- It is a desired situation for the elderly to continue their life without the need for institutional care or being dependent on someone. However, individuals over the age of 65 have difficulty in performing at least one or more of their daily life activities such as dressing, eating, and using the toilet, and if they are over 75 years old, the incidence of disease and disability increases, and therefore, the elderly need to be cared for in some way in the following years. It is known that he needs
- The population of people aged 60 and over in the world; It reached 600 million in 2000 and is estimated to reach 2 billion in 2050. In 2050, for the first time, the 0-14 age group will be equalized with the 60 and over age group.
- While the population over the age of 60 constitutes 10% of the world’s population, it will constitute 22% in 2050. In highly developed countries, it will increase up to 33%. In time, there will be a change in the distribution of age groups by gender. While the male/female ratio over the age of 60 was 81/100 in 2000, it will decrease to 53/100 in 2050. The older age population distribution will be distorted in favor of males.
- The gradual increase in life expectancy has brought up the question of how to increase the duration and quality of healthy years. In this regard, especially developed countries are taking steps and developing policies to ensure healthy aging.
- Healthy aging; your health and physical, mental and social well-being; the ability to live independently; maintaining and improving the quality of life; It is also defined as the lifetime optimization of opportunities to ensure successful transitions between life processes.
