“Have patients and resistance, mija” my 90 year old great grandmother Elizabeth said. She has been one of my motivational supporters pushing me towards my goals, continuation of my education, and living life. Just one phone call, can’t explain how much I dearly miss her. As part of my gerontology interview assignment I had to ask her a couple of questions. One question was: “what is the most significant world event you have experienced and why?”, but my great-grandmother didn’t mention a world event but her own. She explained that she doesn’t know how to read, nor write. She self-taught herself to write her own name and to this day she still does. In the small town in Mexico in which she resides in long ago, lacked education badly. There were no instructors whom taught in schools in town or her surroundings. Few schools were hours away, but with the lack of sufficient resources such as transportation and in town schools those opportunities were never granted to …show more content…
I explained what gerontology is- the study of aging. I asked her about the most/least she liked about the aging process. She repeated several times that she felt like she had minimal memory and things have become more difficult to understand. She more so explained what she can’t do anymore. She completely doesn’t like the increase of age. She believes time flies quickly and she dislikes the fact of feeling really, really old. She wishes she could rejuvenate and become more active and young as she was at one point. She dislikes not being able to walk and obtain strength to do certain activities. What she does feel is sadness, because she feels like she can’t do anything. She can barely walk, tells herself that she is very old and finished up repeatedly, and has very little memory. The only good thing she still has is a big appetite, she said as she
On the night of Saturday, February 1, 2014, I sat down with my grandfather, David Latta, to conduct an interview with him. He currently lives in Clarkston, Michigan, in the newly refurbished basement in my mother's house, along with my step-father, sister, and her son. One could say that my mother's household is quite the crowded nest, with four generation living under one roof. The perspective my grandfather obtains from living in such an atmosphere, is not only something I kept in mind while conducting this interview, but something that guided my questions.
Lisa Genova’s grandmother, who was 85 years old, had been showing signs of dementia for years; but she was a smart and independent woman who never complained, and she navigated around her symptoms. Her nine children and their spouses, as well as her grandchildren, passed off her mistakes to normal aging. Then they got the phone call when Lisa’s grandmot...
With healthcare in the United States advancing so rapidly, there are new ways to treat just about any kind of illness every day. With being able to treat illnesses in new ways, and also the advancement of medical equipment, comes the possibility of a lot more people living up into their 90’s, and maybe even getting to reach 100. The aging population, which keeps growing every so rapidly, will be using up a lot more sources as the years go by. This means, that we need to educate more doctors and nurses, etc., and also make more living facilities for older adults. The question that comes up in my mind, is when is “old” actually”. Most people stereotypically consider ages 75 and older old, but that doesn’t mean they are actually “old”, does it?
The Social Security Act of 1935 was established in order to help Americans receive benefits when they retire or in the event that they are not able to work anymore. All Americans who work pay taxes, which in turn are put into the Social Security system. When this act was passed, it was meant to supplement a person's income, when reaching the age of retirement. This money would add to their pensions or savings. Many retirees now depend on it as their only source of income. In the past, the majority of jobs had pensions and the employee contributed to it. In modern society, pensions are no longer the norm in jobs as they were 50 years ago. Blue collar jobs are more than likely to not have any sort of pension plan as opposed to white collar jobs. Not all people receive the same amount of money when they retire. Depending on the salary you earned when working, that will determine how much you will receive in your monthly Social Security check. A person who has worked at low paying jobs in their lifetime will barely receive enough in Social Security. Many of our elderly in the United States barely receive enough money that many elderly live below or just barely above the poverty level.
Desjarlais, R., & Throop, C. J. (2011). Phenomenological approaches in anthropology. Annual Review of Anthropology, 40, 87-102. doi: 10.1146/annurev-anthro-092010-153345.
Mrs. Maxine represents my archetypal view of the healthy "seasoned citizen." Maxine is a Caucasian female born in rural, Mullens, West Virginia in 1926. She is the only child of a Southern Baptist, "middle class" family. Joseph Hammond, her father, was a farmer. Her mother, Ruby, was a "full-time parent" and prided herself on "running the house." Maxine explained that farmers wife's were routinely responsible for the day-to-day operations of the household. Her Southern Baptist faith was complements of her parents and minister grandfather.
Aging is a phenomena we are all familiar with, a trait characteristic of all humankind, in fact, of all living organisms. What are the effects of aging, especially those which go beyond the biological aspects and effect the social aspects of changing roles, seniority, and treatment of the aged? What was the original human condition before high-tech medical interventions redefined death and dying, before the industrial age changed the nature of the nuclear and extended family? Going back still farther, what can the behavior of chimpanzees tell us about the origins of our responses to the aging of those around us?
Attitudes are the foundation of quality of care for older adults. Among health care professionals, discrimination and stereotypical behaviors are very prevalent, even though more often than not these individuals do not realize their actions are ageist. “Ageism hinders people from seeing the potential of aging, anticipation their own aging, and being responsive to the needs of older people” (McGuire, Klein & Shu-Li, 2008, p. 12). Attitudes are directly correlated with how individuals age and whether individuals stay health and live longer (McGuire, Klein & Shu-Li, 2008, p. 12). The care that older adults receive from healthcare professionals is directly influenced by that provider’s attitude about growing older. All too often, health care providers rely on a patient’s chronological age rather than their functional age when determining their needs and what interventions are prescribed. Another issue lies in providers viewing the complaints of older patients as a part of “normal aging”, therefore potentially missing life-threatening problems that may have been easily resolved. “Age is only appropriate in health treatment as a secondary factor in making medical decisions, and it should not be used as a stand-alone factor” (Nolan, 2011, p. 334).
Older adults are a very knowledgeable population and have had a lot of life experiences. As people age, things start to change physically, mentally, and socially. It’s important to understand the process of aging, so that older adults can be taken care of properly. I interviewed P.R. who is a 71-year-old male that lives alone in his home. P.R. is a retired coal miner, and is currently living off his social security and savings. He lives close to both his daughter and son, who frequently help him out with things that are needed. P.R. was able to give me a lot of insight about specific challenges that he has experienced in his life that is associated with aging. I will be discussing challenges that P.R experienced physically, mentally,
I had the pleasure to interview my grandma, Olga Hernandez. She was born on November 8, 1951 in Cuba. She worked in a workshop making clocks. After she retired, she took care of me while my mom worked. I consider her to be my second mom because she lived with me for eight years. She taught me love, discipline, manners, etc. My grandma is: strong, beautiful, caring, and passionate. Most importantly, she is a breast cancer survivor. I chose to interview my grandma because October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I couldn’t think of a better time to do this interview. I like her story because although it’s sad, it has a happy ending. It shows you that no matter how hard things get, there’s always light at the end of the tunnel.
She grew up in Germany, a country that is very close to the United States in regards to how people view aging. According to McConatha, Schnell, Volkwein, Riley, and Leach (2003), Germans, compared to US Americans, view aging a somewhat more negatively. They are often more pessimistic about the likelihood of finding contentment in old age and generally do not expect to feel good when they are older. To my surprise, my aunts views about aging were very positive.
Health and Aging Often we take our health, or the absence of illness, disease, or injury for granted until we become sick. It is then that we recognize the worth of being without ailments. It is then that we appreciate feeling strong, robust and healthy. Being healthy and, being physically and mentally sound, is associated with one's satisfaction with life.
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.
Helen Keller’s life dramatically changed in 1882 when her mother noticed something was wrong with her. What everybody thought was scarlet fever ended up being worse. Helen was blind and deaf. Helen Keller, being both blind and deaf, had many disadvantages compared to people who are not blind and deaf. One of these disadvantages is that she could not attend school. Another disadvantage of Helen being blind and deaf was that she didn’t have many friends, mainly caused by the fact that she could not attend school. At, a young age, Helen realized that she was different from everybody else around her (“The Life of Helen Keller”). She couldn’t talk to anybody, nobody would play with her because of her disability also known as her “sixth sense”.
Keller’s abilities had attracted a great attention from many people around the world. However, the most important reason that contributed to Keller’s international reputation was at all the works she had done for the society. Before anyone had ever heard of Helen Keller, people that were blind, deaf or handicapped were treated very harshly. They were sometimes an embarrassment to their families, and were often sent off to be cared for away from the rest of the family. No one ever cared if they could learn and be productive people. However, thanked to the example of Helen Keller and her victory over deafness and blindness, everyone realized that everyone has something positive to contribute to the world around them—if they are given the chance. In addition, Through Keller’s fundraising efforts for deaf and blind people, AFB continues to assist blind people in the areas of technology, education, independent living, literacy, and employment, which was a big advancement for those who misfortuned. Overall, if Keller had hadn’t challenge, she would haven’t well known, and therefore deaf and blind people would haven’t had chances to improve their