Carle directs the Program in Assisted Living/Senior Housing Administration at George Mason University’s College of Health and Human Services, which offers the first academic curricula in the nation dedicated exclusively to the senior housing field.
To what extent has your field grown recently?
What’s grown is how we’ve completely changed care in this country. Most people don’t realize senior living homes had outpaced nursing homes in the country by more than 3-to-1. The academic programs had not. When I came [to GMU], there were 106 programs [nationally] in nursing home administration and not a one for assisted living.
What challenges do increased life expectancies create for society?
There are 78 million baby boomers in the U.S. alone. Baby boomers don’t like to be alone — we basically created the suburbs. The idea that we’re going to retire and suddenly go off to a mountaintop — we’re not wired like that.
Is Alzheimer’s becoming better understood these days? What still needs to be done in terms of research and care?
My industry has probably been one of the best things that’s happened in care of Alzheimer’s. What we realized [was] people with Alzheimer’s don’t need to be in a nursing home, but do need to be in an environment where they can get care and specific services.
What projects are you working on now?
My singular goal here is to [reinvigorate] academic curriculum in long-term care. Our students spend a lot of time learning about care for Alzheimer’s. Also, I have a special arrangement with Walt Disney World resorts. No one had ever sent a nursing home student to Disney World before to study hospitality services.
How will demographic changes of people 65 and older shape the country in the next 30 to 50 years?
It’s going to shape it mostly to the extent that we own it. Right now we control about 70 percent of the wealth. We’re kind of spoiled. We’re very used to getting what we want.
— David Sherfinski
