Data and Specifics: Aiding The Elderly

Loneliness exuberates a person’s health, both physically and mentally, and can negatively affect relationships, worsening community/societal divides. Its effects can become very harmful in the long-term and NJ health experts are not putting it on par with tobacco use, obesity, and the addiction crisis.  

In fact, the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, says this: "Loneliness goes far beyond feeling badly...the health impacts are the equivalent smoking 15 cigarettes a day."

Still, loneliness continues to be put on the backburner for the majority of Americans. 

“(L)oneliness [has] received relatively little attention and sustained focus, despite the fact that it undermines the health and wellbeing of millions of older adults,” one expert told NJ Spotlight News.

The number of New Jerseyans over 60 is expected to explode to 3 million at the end of the decade - a jump of more than a million. 

The new wave of older NJ residents will place an enormous strain on a patchwork of elderly services which are already feeling the pinch. 

This will be exceptionally tough for Hunterdon County as  according to the Division of Economic and Demographic Research, Hunterdon County is projected to have 26.4% elderly by 2034, only being surpassed by Cape May with 28%.    

"We're facing a real crisis," said Elizabeth Davis, executive director of Bright Side Family, a nonprofit senior care services organization.