Karl Busch - For dancing senator in the 2026 Gov.je election

I share all the major concerns along with a majority islanders regarding the issues facing us today being :- cost of living, housing, faith in government, jersey economy, population and health. I am concerned about all of these but personally my overwhelming major concern is with health. This is because when your health goes absolutely everything else is compounded. Work, income, where and how you are going to live. Who is going to care for you. Dealing with government (the system) through benefits and Long-Term Care (LTC). It all comes down to resilience and how you can cope. Health and wellbeing.

If I take myself as an example at age 60 my age-related health issues have quadrupled in the last five years - and I take care of my health! In the last three years my wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and now needs fulltime care. I am her primary carer. This has had a devasting impact on our lives. We have the maximum level of care awarded to us under Long Term Care and I can’t imagine how things would be without our carers, 5 in total all from Zimbabwe with the cost added to our home at just short of £2,000 per week. Compared to the couple you saw five years to some we are barley recognisable.

I am in a unique position. Through all this I can see the major issues that islanders my age are going to face over the next 25yrs. In my situation the system has just about worked but not without a huge amount of intervention and hard work on my behalf to make it happen. Why am I telling you all this? Well because over the next 25yrs to when I reach the age 85 the number of people aged 85 with me would have doubled. I am sure I will be absolutely fine because judging by the sprightly 85 year olds that come to our classes I will be enjoying an active happy retirement. But what if ? Are we sleepwalking into the not-too-distant future? The system, healthcare, housing, cost of living, population are all going to compound with ageing. My concern now is who is going to look after me when that time comes. Am I going to be able to decide where and how I live? These are all the questions that people of our generation are now faced with. We cope of course we do but many less fortunate may not.

There is however so much we can do now by looking after ourselves. Investing in our health now and living active happy lives and building that resilience for when the time comes. I see tremendous opportunity to showcase Jersey as being able to turn around the shocking fact that only 54% of the adult population take part in the required weekly level of physical activity.

As senator with an island wide mandate, I will work with the community and activity providers and build on a model that at Step55 we know works. Build social connections, remain agile, listen to people. Support a diverse range of social as well as physical activities that are brought to us by the community for the community. It’s not just about one thing it’s about may things. Think about what you are going to do when you can’t do the things you used to do anymore i.e. run, cycle, swim or socialise. Hopefully you can move onto the next thing, but government needs to make sure the next thing is there for you. As senator I will connect the dots between government and community and together we will make this happen.