'Solo agers' are a growing group. Changes that would help them could help everyone
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ASHLEY MILNE-TYTE: As a professional patient advocate, Ailene Gerhardt hears a lot of stories. And during the last several years, she's heard more and more from people getting older without adult children, a spouse or both. She says the healthcare system is stuck in the past, assuming older people have family to support them, but that's often not the case. Gerhardt runs a network called Navigating Solo.

AILENE GERHARDT: Instead of looking at the concept of solo aging as something that's a crisis to be solved - it's not a crisis to be solved. It's a reality to be supported.

MILNE-TYTE: She says to take one example of that reality. Rather than assume every patient has someone who can pick them up from a medical appointment after being under anesthetic and drive them home, she says why can't the onus be on the healthcare system to arrange transport and an escort?

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