Work plays an important part in our lives—it is a part of human life. We work certain hours a week in order to get money to pay for food, shelter, and even education. However, other than a job accommodating us for the basic necessities, it presents us with aims and goals besides financial security. A job, in which we pursue, should be exciting, beneficial in many ways, including providing us with confidence and satisfaction. For these reasons, I find myself trying my best to achieve a job as a gerontologist.
Gerontologists are those who not only work to take care of the elderly but attempt to understand and address the needs of the elderly. An individual can take different paths of gerontology. They can either work with the elderly through community service programs or even research physical and psychological aspects of aging, with the overall aim being towards improving our quality of lives as we grow older.
The area in which I would like to pursue my career in gerontology is adult daycare or also known as elderly retirement homes. Numerous elderly people, even those who are Alzheimer’s patients and other medically assisted live alone. Even though they do not need to have constant supervision, hour after hour, it is still beneficial for them to have some sort of daily social interaction. Adult daycare provides care and assistance, and especially requiring patience. This job career is most ideal for me since I have volunteered at a local Senior Retirement Home and have the characteristics and job personality for this area of gerontology. This job field is still growing and will continue to grow and as the generation of Baby Boomers begin to retire, there will be a rapid growth in the elderly population. It is said that the Bab...
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...nsion occurs within the society because of this of the increase of life expectancy, and elderly persons working longer than they should.
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As part of a six week clinical placement I was posted in Aged care. During my clinical placement, I had an opportunity to enhance my knowledge about the ageing process. I had learned to apply advanced knowledge to plan appropriate care for an older person with complex health needs, analyse the principles underpinning best nursing care of an older person, integrate legal and ethical considerations into nursing care, including documentation and develop practice in relation to the care of a person with dementia.
University of California (2006). An Aging U.S. Population and the Health Care Workforce: Factors Affecting the Need for Geriatric Care Workers. University of California, San Francisco, Center for California Health Workforce Studies.
(Bendick, Brown & Wall, 1999). A new awareness of older workers has emerged as retiring
The thought of aging is not void of hesitance given it produces questions deprived of answers in the absence of a crystal ball. Subsequently, aging parallels the unknown; thus, faced with uncertainty adopting a positive perspective remains elusive. Although, it’s preferred to view aging optimistically one cannot escape its negative connotations. Will I be an active agent or isolated burden remains a noteworthy unknown that enervates my optimism. Another consideration leading to my vacillating view on aging is, not knowing to what degree personal competencies and capacities will carry forward, thereby affording autonomy in the elder years. However, as research suggest, the aging process transforms healthy adults into frail ones; thus, dashing one’s hope that such traits will endure (Friis, 2010). Incidentally, at age 48, these lingering questions will soon be answered. In the interim, there is an inherent responsibility to prepare physically, psychologically, and financially for entry into the aging population. Ideally, the goal is to
Hiller, S. M., & Barrow, G. M. (2011). Aging, the individual, and society. (9th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
DeCoster. The reason why I selected this article is because it is very different from the previous article I chose. Furthermore, this article 's main focus is on not on techniques or practice methods needed in gerontology, but rather on why gerontology, social work will become a rather important and immense population. The article also goes into depth as to what aspiring social workers or case managers need to know to be able to work with this population for example “special issues on aging and health” (Oliver & DeCoster, 2006, p. 244). The authors state, “ Implications for social work practice involve education on coping and referral needs” (Oliver & DeCoster, 2006, p. 244). From reading this article I learned to better understand the field of practice I am working with, such as how social workers impact the lives of these clients. I also learned to think beyond the surface as really assess my role as a social worker explore ways to grow as a helping professional in this role. Finally, from reading this article I became more aware on how gender, religion, race, ethnicity can impact the client on a functional level. I can use what I learned in this article to improve in my work placement by being more away and culturally sensitive to my clients. I also learned that gerontology is a relatively new large population in social work and if I want to be successful in helping my clients with their health cares needs I need to read more and gain more knowledge on common health care problems they are facing and health care systemic problems affecting this
As individuals we are all guilty of planning for our retirement, yet some of us look at individuals who are in retirement in a negative way. In this essay, I would strive to look at factors which may have triggered negative perceptions and discernment and how it ties in to the term ageism and the effects it has on elders. The essay would also explore the theories modernization and egalitarian and will also look at ways in which the society can change their perception of the elderly.
While growing up I had many ideas of what professional career I wanted to obtain, although until recent years, occupational therapy was not even a thought. It was not until my grandmother had a stroke that I even knew what occupational therapy was or entailed. I watched my grandmother participate in therapy leading her to learn how to tie her shoes again, and the things I thought were so simple as to dress herself again. It was during that time as high school graduation was approaching that I realized I wanted to be apart of that. I wanted to have a role helping others learn and exceed as she did because I seen how much joy it brought her. This experience opened my eye to the things we so often take for granted, that some people lose the ability of doing or lack the ability of doing. Throughout her journey of facing and overcoming these problems, it led me to a yearning to pursue this
“The Golden Years? You've got to be kidding...(Nelson)” Ageism is the main influence for how older people view the aging process. Despite stereotypes, today, for the first time in history, most people can expect to live into their sixties and beyond. A longer life represents an important opportunity, not only for older people and their families, but also for societies as a whole. Additional years provide the chance to pursue new activities such as further education or a long-neglected passion, while continuing to make valuable contributions to family and community.
In today’s society, what was once said to be true and taken as fact regarding older people is no longer the whole story. As Laslett states, “At all times before the middle of the twentieth century and all over the globe the greater part of human life potential has been wasted, by people dying before their allotted time was up.” (1989a), and to a great extent a lot
This strategy aims to employ workers from different backgrounds to provide tangible and intangible benefits for the business. The employers are the ones who control everything from the wage, promotions, incentives and the termination of the older counterparts. They are increasingly concerned about updated skills, physical demands, early retirement, and the cost of maintaining an older worker. Despite how employers may feel, companies cannot afford to neglect talent at any age. The employer should take advantage of the skills that the older employee posses, and carefully position them in jobs that matches their skill level as well as the job to be done. “Regardless of the change organizations make in the structure and functioning of the workplace of the future, it appears likely that older workers will play a crucial role (Hedge,Borman,& Lammlein, 2006). Different acts and laws are governed to respond to any discrimination against older employees in the workforce. Employment agencies, labor unions, local, state and Federal government are bound by these laws such as: Older Workers Benefits Protection Act (OWBPA); The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Older Americans Act (OAA), to name a few. Funds for service by the Congress are provided in forms of grants for various programs yearly. States, counties, and cities recognize the value of the servicing and are generous in providing additional funds, benefits and in-kind economic benefits too. Because area and state agencies on aging are doing very little in a way to use mass media to promote themselves, the aging network is probably missing a large number of disadvantage people who should be receiving services but who are unaware of them. Much more emphasis has been placed on tying together the federal services for the older workers, but it should not have taken a federal initiative to make states see
Working with this population has its rewards for counselors. According to Neman & Neman older individuals have high levels of satisfaction and have the ability to comprehend and accomplish personal goals especially the important ones. It can be rewarding for counselors working with this population to reach these goals. It can be also rewarding for counselors to see someone in that age group that refuses to give up and they create new goals to achieve. Older population likes to talk and tell stories and counselors can use those stories to help their life or help others.
This week’s article, “Planning for "Successful Aging" at Mid-life” by Kathryn Betts Adams Ph.D., M.S.W., discusses a topic that everyone begins to realize is fast-approaching, yet the majority try to put it out of their minds. And they can hardly be blamed for doing so. The idea of aging is one that no one is ready to face considering how short our time on Earth seems to be with each passing day. Most of us would rather worry about it later, preferring to spend the time remaining doing all that we have planned for our lives. Not only do Kathryn Betts Adam combat this by openly discussing the issue we have all been avoiding, but she gives great advice to make this process a bit easier for all of us to deal with.
Hooyman, N., & Kiyak, H. A. (2011). Social gerontology: A multidisciplinary perspective (9th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. (Original work published 2005)
After having attained a Bachelor’s degree in Zoology and a Master’s degree in Gerontology, I felt I should gain some first-hand experience in physical therapy and thus volunteered to work as a caregiver in a reputed Evergreen rehabilitation center Ga. However, while working as a caregiver I realized I needed to learn much more in order to provide better care in meeting the psychological and physical caring needs of the elderly. I have always had the inherent desire to serve the elderly in reducing their hardships and providing them with the much needed physical and psychological support so that they can lead a happy and trouble-free life.