This is not your grandmother's old age. Some time ago, a smarty-pants columnist wrote that the baby boomers, used to getting their own way in just about everything, would change the nature of nursing homes as they aged. They're aging. The first of them, born in 1946, hit 60 last year.

It's no secret that our older population is increasing in size, and living longer. That means more of us are going to develop chronic conditions of some sort and need more medical care, probably some stays in nursing homes.

At last Tuesday's Board of Supervisors hearing on Sutter Lakeside's plans for change, we heard medical director Dr. Diane Pege say that medical care has changed radically. Because of the near-miraculous nature of today's medical technology, operations which used to require several days hospital stay now are outpatient surgery. You're in and out on the same day, with no need for heavy duty nursing care.

But if you live alone, as more of us do now, you may not feel able to go home and back to fully taking care of yourself – shopping, cooking, bathing, dressing. A convalescent home could be just the ticket.

But will we tolerate the typically awful food of nursing homes? The constant blare of competing television sets from every room? The distressing and rather frightening presence of mentally ill patients mixed in with those who only have a broken ankle?

Probably not. At the Tuesday hearing, Sutter Lakeside CEO Kelly Mather said chronic conditions are the big problem, and full hospital care for most of them is just too expensive, and unnecessary.

Time for some change

We're in a transition stage, and those are always uncomfortable. It's a relief to know that Sutter Lakeside has been working to upgrade the standards at a local nursing facility. We certainly need a new model. Many convalescence periods don't need fancy machinery or 24-hour nursing, just a cheerful setting, a little peace and quiet, maybe some intensive physical therapy, at which Sutter Lakeside excels, and which they can certainly provide in a less expensive setting.

There are serious questions about why hospital care and insurance are so expensive, and why insurance is so complicated. The hospitals didn't create that situation. They buy expensive technology because we want all the latest gadgets, just as we want prescriptions for all the latest drugs we see advertised on television. Insurance is a world unto itself, which many legislators have allowed to run wild as the campaign contributions roll in. Those are issues to deal with on a political level.

On a personal level, we need to examine our assumptions. Is a high-tech hospital the only place for long-term recovery, or the best place to give birth or to die?

Maybe not.

Sophie Annan Jensen live in Lucerne.

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