Challenges Elderly Face Living in Rural Areas Social worker that practice in the rural environment should understand the importance of their client’s community. People who live in rural areas are viewed as “country”, unfortunate, and illiterate people not living the “normal” standards. In other words, these characteristics of the rural lifestyle are people who are comfortable living in the low populated environment are restricted to different resources compared to the urban communities. Furthermore, to understand the rural lifestyle I conducted interviews of three elderly African American women who lived their entire lives in the rural part of Alabama: Ms. Orange, 85 of Millry, Ms. Molly, 83 of Camden, and Ms. Washington, 77 of Fruitdale. …show more content…
Studies address financial barriers to providing health care services to rural patients. There a disparate amount of people who are not insured and rely on government resources to help assist them in health care finances which is difficult for health professional to have a successful practice (Stamm, Lambert, Piland, & Speck, 2007). In addition, elderly lacks access to social and health services and does not have insurance to pay for services. In this study mention how “rural elders are more likely to enter in nursing homes at earlier ages because of loneliness and depression” (p.301). Additionally, professional practicing in rural areas are pressure to service clients in the rural community due to low socioeconomic and isolated population growth which cause the practice to be difficult to provides for the community. It is important for social workers to be aware of the different challenges their client face while seeking health care services in the rural …show more content…
Each participant expressed on how they make ends meet daily with their social security and disability check. Ms. Molly mentioned “My son lives with me and works out of town to help pay the utility bills. I would stretch my disability check to help and buy groceries for the house.” Study examined elderly women living alone in poverty with no source of income from working and no educational backgrounds. Research stated that elderly women who rely on one source of income are like to live in poverty (Slesinger, 1988). Ms. Washington mentioned “It’s hard now living alone and disable to work. When my husband was living he would pay take of the bills and give me money to spend on food. Now I have a lot of medical bills and little money to get my prescription filled.” Lastly, Ms. Orange did not want to discuss her financial issues but stated that “I do what I can to make ends meet with the little money I get. My family member make should that I am caught up on my utilities and make sure I have everything I need.” Studies examined community service use for older adults living in rural areas who are unaware of the difference services provided for them. They also argued that elderly people living rural areas are content with the lifestyles that influence their attitude towards seeking help because they might be afraid on how rural people are viewed (Sun,
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 25% of people suffer from a mental illness and that 50% of people will develop one during their life ("Surveillance Report," 2011). Mental illness is also associated with “chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, arthritis, asthma, and diabetes” (Pederson et al., 2013, p. 695). Rural communities have higher rates of chronic illnesses, mental health issues and fewer providers thus making this population vulnerable to health disparities. The purpose of this paper is to explore mental illness in the rural community, ways to improve accessibility to care, and improve outcomes through the role of a rural nurse educator.
Within business organizations, aging is something that is inevitable and unique to all people. Business practices need to be in the best interest of an organization, which is also inclusive to the employees, stakeholders, and customers in which they rely on and cater to. Best business practices, both directed and implied (regardless of the location) dictates that businesses follow and adhere to federal, state, city, and other local policies. However we needn’t look too far to see the multiple lawsuits that show continued and practiced bias and prejudice. One such incident involving discriminatory practices involving ageism that will be discussed within this discussion will revolve around a Texas Roadhouse restaurant based in Palm Bay, Florida.
The purpose of this paper is to illuminate and discuss healthcare vulnerabilities of the elderly rural population in Baker County, Florida and describe how the nursing profession can address these problems. Rural health has been a complex and multifaceted challenge for government and healthcare practitioners. The elderly who live alone in the county suffer from low socioeconomic status, low health literacy rates, declining cognitive and physical health and lack of healthcare facilities. The health status of this vulnerable group is impacted by rural culture and social values, healthcare policy and funding affecting rural healthcare facilities, distance and lack of transportation, and health literacy.
What is Alzheimer ? Is Alzheimer 's more difficult for the patient or for the patient’s siblings?
People living in poverty can be thought of as a “them” who can be easily ignored and forgotten; when, in reality, poverty can affect anyone. When people are living in poverty, sometimes it is not their fault. Often, unfortunate events that are out of someone’s control can set them up for failure. For example, the poverty rate for disabled adults from the age of 18-64 is 28.5%, while disabled 18-64 year olds only make up 7.7% of America’s population (Proctor, Semega, and Kollar 16). Therefore, poverty disproportionately affects disabled adults. The stories of those living in poverty are incredibly diverse, as Sasha Abramsky points out in The American Way of Poverty:
It involves the mental, physical, emotional, and medical domains of the individual’s life, but due to the fact that many of these services are publicly funded, gaps exist. Cox (2007) reported that “community resources were generally perceived as inadequate. None of our participants had ready access to social workers in the office, so arranging home health care, adult day care, and other community services added to the difficulty of primary care” (p. 82). Not only are the services and programs inadequate, recent economic dilemmas and ‘recession’ has reduced public spending to meager allowances. Another sore problem is Medicare and general health care programs for the less wealthy. This was the sentiment echoed by one physician interviewed: “If you told me I had to run this place on the basis of what I get from Medicare, I would have to tell you I couldn’t do it, which is kind of sad, because they claim that they’re bankrupt and everything. Where in the hell are they spending their money? They sure ain’t giving it to
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2013) Report revealed that the World Health Organization describes the inequities and disparities within a community as social determinants. These social determinants include age, sex, birth place, where one lives, works, plays, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, and has a healthcare system. McKibbin and Deacon (2011) revealed it is estimated that 20% of older adults suffer from a mental health disorder. Patients with a chronic illness such as coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, hypertension, geriatric depression, chronic pain issues, cancer, and diabetes account for trillions of dollars spent on medical care in the United States. As the population ages the costs will expand, the shortage of physicians and nurses will continue to decrease and the scope of this problem will increase thus the need for new innovative ideas and plans to care for the geriatric population including those in the rural regions. One potential solution for geriatric depression ...
Within the U.S. Healthcare system there are different levels of healthcare; Long-Term Care also known as (LTC), Integrative Care, and Mental Health. While these services are contained within in the U.S. Healthcare system, they function on dissimilar levels.
Certain cultures that live at or below the poverty line prefer this type of assistance for their elderly family members because it allows them to have someone meet them at their home. This convenience is a big factor and provides the elderly with a way to fulfill their communal culture by living out their time at home among family, while still receiving any necessary assistance for health checks or IADL’s. This improves their quality of life by meeting their needs in a different way. These alternative methods to older adult care are more popular among minorities and cultural groups (Bookman & Kimbrel, 2011).
support medical practice in rural/remote regions: what are the conditions for success? Implement Sci. 2006 Aug 24;1:18.
The two major communities that individuals live in are urban and rural. Both types have both positive and negative aspects. The focus of this paper is on rural communities. From my research rural environments are not as popular as urban ones; however, the citizens who live in these communities are very happy with the lifestyle they chose. The word rural is generally associated with communities that lack accessibility to public services such as transit, shopping, and entertainment. This is generally used in communities where farming is a primary occupation. In my study I interviewed three individuals who identify as living in a rural community.
For decades, individuals living in rural areas have been considered medically underserved. Access to healthcare is a problem that has been increasing for individuals in rural America due to aging populations, declining economies, rural hospital closures, rising healthcare costs, healthcare provider shortages and difficulties attracting and retaining healthcare personnel and physicians (Bauer, 2002). This population experience more health disparities than t...
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 is an act that was passed that clearly states that employers can’t be discriminate against someone based on their age 40 and older. The older adults are trying so hard to hold onto their jobs with dear life, because if not they will be nudged out and pushed aside. Not because of anything but rather because of their age. Age discrimination is on the rise as young as 50 years old. Age discrimination can happen to anyone regardless of your race, ethnic backgrounds or sexual orientation. A study was published in the Journal of Age Ageing and in the report it said that British People 50 years old and older faces discrimination about one third of them. In a resent survey older adults says job insecurity
There are quite some unique challenges that may exist at the rural level regarding dual or multiple relationships. They include self-matching, rural clinician isolation, the creation of boundaries among the community members as well as the existing ethical principles that compete with one another. Self-matching often ensures that clients categorize themselves and the social workers regarding race, education and religion among others. Hence, they only prefer certain health workers whom they believe are in a better position to understand them since they have certain similarities. As a result, dependency and dual relationship ensue between the clients and the social workers that may interact in the same community, social circles, religious institution and the like (Gonyea, Wright & Kulkosky, 2014). Setting clear boundaries, especially in a rural community, is very important due to the close-knit nature of these environments, as it is inevitable that the worker may encounter their clients out in public settings
This paper will focus on the latter part of middle adulthood. Middle adulthood represents the time in life between ages 34 to 60 (Newman & Newman, 2015). Since the middle adulthood is the longest stage of the life cycle, this paper will focus on an individual within the age of 45- 60. Individuals in the middle adulthood stage begin to develop concerns about future generation. They feel the need to contribute to the world through family and work. These feelings and thoughts are referred to as generativity. Erik Erikson refers to the problem posed at this stage as generativity vs. stagnation (Newman et al., 2015). Stagnation occurs when an individual is self-centered and unwilling to help society move forward. Several changes begin to