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supporting the elderly how important it is
importance of senior citizens
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Growing old is a natural process and as such presents an unparalleled challenge for everyone. With continuous improvement in health-care services in the UK, residents are living longer. Consequently, the number of older adults who require care is dramatically increasing. Ageing brings complications and failing health, and many elderly people are living with one or more long-term medical conditions. The health and welfare of our family and friends are of paramount importance to us, and therefore it can be a tough decision to choose elderly care. Caring and maintaining a good quality of life for our loved ones and ourselves are lifelong tasks that can become increasingly demanding with age. The following outlined considerations are designed …show more content…
Elderly care is specialized care that is designed to meet the needs and requirements of senior citizens at various stages. As such, elderly care is comprised of everything from nursing care and assisted living to home care, adult day care, and even hospice care. Some adults never require any care to live independently in their later years but some others having challenges with activities of daily living (ADLs), such as cleaning, cooking, dressing, taking meds, shopping, driving, bathing, etc. will need some elderly …show more content…
Typically it is the Family members or a doctor who observes the changes in abilities and behaviours and consequently the need for elderly care. There are some warning signs your elderly friend or relative may display that may prompt you to seek outside help; Physical Problems are often introduced when individuals begin to age. Their bodies may become less resilient, more rigid, more fragile and they are unable to perform the normal activities they once could. A complete physical examination (including hearing and vision) on a regular basis is an essential part of an overall health plan, just because your loved one hasn’t reported a physical impairment doesn’t mean he or she doesn’t require care. Physical problems may manifest themselves in some ways such as Movement disorders, Chronic health conditions, permanent or temporal physical limitations that may inhibit their ability to perform ADLs, Confusion, Attention problems, Cognitive problems, Memory loss, Language problems,
Long-term care (LTC) covers a wide range of clinical and social services for those who need assistance due to functional limitations. These limitations usually result from complications associated with age related chronic conditions, from disabilities related to birth defects, brain damage, or mental retardation in children; or from major illnesses or injuries suffered by adults (Shi L. & Singh D.A., 2011). LTC encompasses a variety of services including traditional clinical services, social services and housing. Unlike acute care, long-term care is much more complicated and has objectives that are much harder to measure. Acute care mainly focuses on returning patients to their previous functional level and is primarily provided by specialty providers. However, LTC mainly focuses on preventing the physical and mental deterioration of an individual and promoting social adjustments to suit the different stages of decline. In addition the providers of LTC are more diverse than those in acute care and is offered in both formal and informal settings, which include: hospitals, physicians, home care, adult day care, nursing home care, assisted living and even informal caregivers such as friends and family members. Long-term care services have been dominated by community based services, which include informal care (86%, about 10 to 11 million) and formal institutional care delivered in nursing facilities (14%, 1.6 million) (McCall, 2001). Of more than the 10 million Americans estimated to require LTC services, 58% are elderly and 42% are under the age of 65 (Shi L. & Singh D.A., 2011). The users of LTC are either frail elderly or disabled and because of the specific care needs of this population, the care varies based on an indiv...
Home health care agencies offer a wide range of healthcare services that can be given in the patient’s home. Independent Living Inc provides full-service, non-medical, in-home care to elderly patients. A full-service agency manages all the care needs and solves any issues regarding the entire care experience. A non-medical, in-home care agency provides services that are not considered skilled services or medical care. Direct Support Professionals are hired to care for the patient in their home. Their services include personal care, companionship, supervision, and assist with different tasks within the home. These tasks consist of meal preparation, medication administration, light housekeeping, laundry, errands, shopping, and transportation. They are also responsible for accompanying the patient to doctor appointments and assisting them with daily activities. There are six specific activities that are referred to as Activities of Daily Living (ADL). These activities are bathing, dressing, transferring (getting into bed, chair, wheelchair, etc.), using the toilet, eating, and
Many countries globally are faced with unprecedented demographic changes from high mortality and fertility to low mortality and fertility, giving rise to an ageing population. Population ageing is profound and enduring, and has major consequences and implications for all facets of human life. With a larger proportion of older people, one of the major concerns is health and health care. The health of older persons generally declines with age and some illness are more likely to be associated with older people. One of such illness is dementia. As the life expectancies of the general population have dramatically increased since the turn of the century, more and more people are at risk of developing a dementia (National Institute of Aging, 2000).
There are many complications that can arise as one ages. As stated in the Aging Concepts and Controversies (2012) book, there are basically two worlds of aging; the ill-derly and the well-derly. While those that are well are able to take care of themselves or need very little help to perform their daily activities; those that are ill most likely we need to have some form of long-term care. As stated earlier, when looking at care options for older adults, there are two forms of care that many people try to decide between. The first option is home care. In this form of long-term care, the elder person is looked after by a spouse, family member such as a child or grandchild, or a close family friend. The other type of long-term care is nursing home or institutionalized care, where the elderly person is taking care of by professionals and lives in the facility where they are being taken care of. Many times it is not easy to decide which type of care will be best, it depends on many factors, such as the cost, level of care needed, and many other factors. Using this paper, I like to briefly look a...
Darby, S. Marr, J. Crump, A Scurfield, M (1999) Older People, Nursing & Mental Health. Oxford: Buterworth-Heinemann.
Long-term health care consists of personal medical, and social services rendered to elders with chronic indispositions. These types of services are carried out through several different means, such as nursing homes, home health care, and respite care. The focus on long-term care is to provide an environment assisting with treatments plans, personal up keep and rehabilitation. As the largest part of our growing population reaches retirement age, several new questions and issues have arose. Financially, long term health has is an ever growing concern of the elder population and those who have accepted the financial burden. A large portion of the economy struggles with the cost of the ever rising prices of health care. The economy has been hindered with financial difficulty and it has had several implications on the ways we spend our money. For some of the baby boomers, it has left them with no choice but to continue to work in order to provide. For others, it has left them no option but to live with family members or seek assistants elsewhere. Income has evolved into a stressor for elders planning retirement.
...6 in 2050” (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2012, p. 15). Comparatively, in 1900 the average life expectancy was 47 (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2012, p. 15). This is relevant with regards to ageism in that the need for trained health care professionals in the field of gerontology will be astounding, but because of the current perceptions of older adults there is a gross lack of these specialty providers. “It has been estimated that by 2030, 3.5 million formal health care providers-a 35 percent increase from current levels-will be needed just to maintain the current ratio of providers to the total population” (Ferrini & Ferrini, 2013, p, 15). The prediction is that all health care providers will spend at least 50 percent of their time working with older adults; increased competency while eliminating ageist attitudes is paramount for quality health care (Ferrini & Ferrini, 2013, p. 15).
According to the U.S. census bureau older adults are an important and rapidly growing segment of the United States’ population. There are about 40 million older adults aged 65 and older residing in Unites States and it is projected to be more than double by 2050(Population Reference Bureau, 2015). This projection is due to advancement in health care facilities and better education (Population Reference Bureau, 2015). As people age they face various physical, psychological and social roles changes which affects their quality of life.
The group session focused on how Elder Care can improve the quality of occupations for seniors whether it is in-home service where someone from the agency helps the seniors with anything around the house. Elderly Care also provides information and referrals to other services individuals may need. Elder Care provides elders a sense of self where they have access to services they need to live out their day-to-day activities. Elder Care has a care management service where they ask questions regarding the need to improve the quality of life to become more independent, comfortable, and healthier in their own home. Elder care will prove any services voiced by the senior. The care management services provided are adult daycare, homemaking and companionship, nutritional services, personal care services, respite services and transportation services. The Elder Care representative stated that when a senior acquire about services someone is designated to evaluate the senior to determine the recommended services needed. The representative gathers information about the senior history and the services seeking. This allows the representative to get a better understanding of the senior and to place them in the correct
As adults the transition into old age can be difficult for some people. Frustration, lack of responsibility and dependence can make the process of aging undesirable. Old age should be viewed as another phase of life, but not the end of life. In order to help elderly cope with aging it is important for them to have social interaction. Support from family, friends and the local community can make a difference in the psychological well being of older adults.
According to the study many people are not aware of the social services they may have available to them. Because of this, many elderly people are not getting the care they need outside of the physical care necessary to "live." It is felt that screening a patient for social or emotional needs is becoming increasingly important. The focus of this study was to devise a questionnaire to identify the psychological, social and environmental needs of elderly patients.
Taking care of the individuals that are getting older takes many different needs. Most of these needs cannot be given from the help of a family. This causes the need of having to put your love one into a home and causing for the worry of how they will be treated. It is important for the family and also the soon to be client to feel at home in their new environment. This has been an issue with the care being provided for each individual, which has lead to the need of making sure individuals have their own health care plan.
Although, more and more senior adults are pressing to live independently, safe and effective care still needs to be provided to them on a daily basis. It is common today in America for most of the care to older adults to be given by family members (Friedemann M.-L., Newman F.L., Buckwalter K.C. & Montgomery R.J.V., 2013). “Caregivers make economic and social sacrifices that endanger their health. They feel burdened, if they receive no assistance with their tasks; however, services available are not sufficiently used.” (Friedemann M.-L., Newman F.L., Buckwalter K.C. & Montgomery R.J.V., 2013) This statement is true to some point by my own experience. A caregiver should focus on caring for the patient and not receiving assistance with her tasks. However, I can seem to understand that the field of care giving should be worked to the best of the ability of the caregiver. If there is no one available to assist you as a caregiver with your task, then you should do your best at doing your task. What should be the go...
There are many solutions to the issues that are currently affecting the care of senior citizens that are reliant on others for assistance. Improving the quality of the care giver is one of the major factors that will benefit both the individual providing the care and the senior citizen. Proper training, lower work load and providing a higher wage will improve the quality of the care by improving the work environment of the care giver. More funding to improve the quality of the caregiver and the quality of the living situation for senior citizens is crucial to making positive changes to the care
A term used for elders is aged, which is having reached a specific age (McKenzie & Pinger, 2015, p.273). Another term used for elders is aging, which means getting older. Some elders live in assisted-living facilities, which provides an alternative to long-term care in a nursing hoe. They also can live in retirement communities, which are areas that have been specifically developed for those in their retirement years (McKenzie & Pinger, 2015, p.288). For elders, health care is a major issue for them. Since they are older, they develop more health problems and that causes them to use the health care system