None of us are getting out of here alive

Martin Turner
Editor, Medicus

There are statistics and there are stories. When you’re discussing the latest development with ageing loved ones, the stories seem to flow. Amongst my friends, if it’s not the first order of business when you get together, it’s very likely a thread that it is nestling among the conversation, to be picked up at an appropriate moment.

As for the statistics, a report about an aged-care forum in this edition of Medicus tells us that already one in six Australians are aged over 65, with that proportion continuing to escalate. Corroborating these figures, the report into the Western Australian Burden of Disease 2011-2023 states that between 2011 and 2023 there has been an increasing proportion of people aged 60 years and over, alongside a decline in the proportions of people aged under five years and between 20 and 29 years, indicating an ageing population over time.

Males aged 80 years in 2023 could expect two-thirds of their remaining life to be in good health, and females of the same age could expect to live 63.6% of their remaining life in good health. The effects of improvements to healthcare are evident, as are the inevitable consequences of longevity for the health system. Amongst that approximately one-third of years, in less than good health, lies the many stories we share.

Aged care was one of the five points in the plan outlined in this edition to address ambulance ramping. Endorsed by four health unions, including the AMA (WA), the plan calls for 400 more aged-care beds, moving non-medical cases into the right care to free acute wards for those who need them most.

We also have an extract from a book written by Western Australian journalist and TV presenter Casey Beros, Next of Kin: What to expect when you’re expecting to care for someone you love. It tells the story of her own journey in having to uproot her family in order to care for her terminally ill father, and all the lessons she learnt along the way.

Watching the natural flow of life play out with the body and mind of those who gave you life is harrowing, heartbreaking, meaningful, profound, banal, painful… am I missing any adjectives? As Ms Beros puts it: “It makes sense that we don’t want to imagine what losing them might feel like, or what living without them might be like. Losing people we love hurts. So why write a book about it? Well, this statistic will shock you, but 100% of the people you know and love are going to die. None of us are getting out of here alive.”