1661 Elderado II

As I mentioned in an earlier essay, I'm trying to flush out the opportunities involved in the up and coming eldercare industry. I see caring for elders as in many ways like caring for children, except, as I’ve said, they don't grow out of it.
But many of the challenges are similar—somehow you have to integrate your parent's care into your daily business life. And that means you need to have someone baby sit. Or in the case of the old folks, eldersit. You would think such people would be called "eldersitters," but no, they go by the generic—or perhaps geriatric— name, "caregiver."
By the way, I really like the term "caregiver." It works much better then the term it replaced—"caretaker." Because when we hire one of them, we definitely want them to give care, not take it. Besides, "caregiver" sounds so much more active and human, "caretaker" sounds like they're taking care of an abandoned property of some sort. Even a cold-hearted son like myself finds it hard to think of his father as the old shack at the lake.
So anyhow, the care problems one faces in day-to-day life are not the eight-to-five times we can all plan for, it’s the emergencies that come up, times that are hard to plan ahead, but for which you need temporary care. Kind of like when you're at Fred Meyer and you use the drop-in temporary daycare place, Playland. Drop off your unpredictable kids so you can shop in peace.
The business opportunity? They should have one for oldsters. But instead of calling it the Playland they could call it the Grayland.
A soft place for them to sit and nod off and only one other requirementmake sure it's really close to the bathroom.
America, ya gotta love it.