Pennsylvania has a lot of senior citizens.

According to federal records, the state has 2.5 million residents over 65 years old. That’s 19.6% of the state’s population. Only California, Florida, New York and Texas have more, which is unsurprising as they are also the only states with overall populations greater than Pennsylvania.

Of those, only retirement mecca Florida has a greater percentage of the population (21.6%) that is retirement age or older. The national average is 17%.

That means Pennsylvania has to be more prepared than other states to meet the needs of an aging population.

According to a recent roundtable discussion at Westmoreland Manor in Hempfield, that needs work.

The county-owned nursing home, like others, is facing problems providing the care its residents need. It isn’t for lack of trying. It’s for lack of staff.

“When we are short-staffed, and when workers are not paid competitive wages, then the residents feel like garbage — like they are not worth it,” licensed practical nurse Carol Marol told state lawmakers.

It is bad enough when teachers feel obligated to stock their own books, art supplies, pencils and more to educate students. But Marol told of staff stretched to the limit but still doing more, including bringing in food for residents.

She wasn’t alone. Janessa Knepshield doesn’t work in a nursing home. She is a home health care worker. Her story was also of working without a safety net because there was no one else to do the job.

“If I take a day off … there is no coverage for the person that I am taking care of,” Knepshield said. “It’s hard to want to take a personal day.”

There simply aren’t enough people to do the work. Westmoreland Manor has to pay overtime and bonuses to the nurses it has to get more hours out of to stay in the proper ratio of nursing personnel to residents.

If long-term care settings are already doing that, what will they do when more seniors are in nursing homes? Census data shows Pennsylvania’s population is skewing older every day. What happens when 20% becomes 25% — and more of them are at the older end of the spectrum, requiring more care? By 2030, the senior population is expected to be 1 in 3.

It isn’t that this is a situation that needs to be addressed soon. This is a roof that needed patching 10 years ago and the drip, drip, drip of the leak is rapidly becoming a flood.

Now, with changes to federal programs like Medicaid on the table, solutions are even more critical. Redstone Highlands told the panel its program provides 13,000 days of care through the Community Health Choices program, which supports Medicare and Medicaid patients in long-term care.

Redstone Highlands’ costs are $465 a day. The program pays $306. What happens if that goes down — or goes away?

Whether the support is there or not, the need will be.

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