Elderly In Modern America

doctor, then what are they to do? They can not just sit at home and

In America, people are changing their views on aging and the elderly. Some of the reasons that the attitudes are changing could be due to more elderly people are remaining in the work place longer, as opposed to retiring early. Riffkin (2014). And there is the fact that we baby boomers are living longer. Even though the U.S. only ranks 53rd with a life expectancy of 79. That’s an increase of one year since 2010. (“The World: Life Expectancy” 2016)

We all will one day face the reality of growing older. There are many aspects of this change that will affect us in a large way. According to the Merck Manual of Health and Aging, 1.5% of Americans are 85 or older. This research states that the number of people 100 years or older could rise from 1 out of 5,578 in the year 2000, to 1 out of 472 in the year 2050. It brings out that women have a longer life expectancy than men, among people aged 65 and older in the year 2000, there were 70 men for every 100 women. For people aged 85 and older the figure was 41 men for every 100 women. The site goes on to say that approximately 11% of Americans aged 65 and older are below the poverty line. (The Merck Manual of Health and Aging:

Something that American society has not experienced before is how to handle an aging population that is growing quickly and projected to double by the year 2050. The current growth in the number and proportion of older adults in the United States is unprecedented in our nation’s history. By 2050, it is anticipated that Americans aged 65 or older will number nearly 89 million people, or more than double the number of older adults in the United States in 2010 (The State of Aging and Health in America, 2013). Mirroring the aging of the U.S. population as a whole, the number of self-identified LGBT adults age 65 or older is expected to double by 2030 -- from 1.5 million to 3 million (Dennis, 2014). For a marginalized lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community (LGBT), the choice of a health care surrogate to make medical decisions can be very difficult. Issues of discrimination, lack of legal and social support, varying levels of relationship commitment, and complications of disclosure to family and medical professionals (Buckey and Browning, 2013, p.233). The purpose of this research is to address end of life care issues facing the aging LGBT Community which include; issues with advance care planning and surrogate decision-making, issues with a partner and family involvement, and issues with healthcare provider-patient communication.

With the aging society in America means that there will be larger number of older people than young people. As a result of this fewer people will have to pay taxes to support public necessities and there will be fewer young people to provide services for the elders. This will also highly affect the health care in America because many seniors will have a chronic illness and there will be a shortage of healthcare workers to assist them. This will affect retirement because retirement income is made up of welfare payments, savings, and public and private pensions. Most publicly financed retirement pensions are funded by programs or most commonly know, social security. Social security is a universal income support program for elders and is usually

As we begin to enter an aging America many positive effects will foreshadow, like having more experienced workers, changing perceptions of how we think of the aged and aging, them being active in the community, and obtaining their place in society. In observing the history and how far we have come along with regards to our views, government funding’s, and where they will live can only improve as future elderly come into existence. So much as 40 years into the future there perhaps will be modifications to reduce working hours to 4 days a week. Changes like this would shift our demographic work style that would ease us into our older years and living longer and happier lives. This growing demographic that’s estimated in the future will play a

Committee on Aging, United States Senate, 101st Cong. (1990). (Serial No. 101-J). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

The United States is goal orientated; therefore it could be argued that the premise to achieve successful aging is on par with our historical and cultural beliefs. Unlike other cultures or countries America is a ‘melting pot’ without a common philosophy defining the meaning of life or how life should be lived. For example, Traditional Hinduism, Chinese Confucianism, and Japanese Ikigai have cultural mores that provide for the role of aging in their societies (Moddy & Sasser, 2015, p. 36).The common thread for citizens in America is to achieve a better life at all stages. Thus, from cultural context the words are in sync with the American way.

I don’t mind typing in my information or filling out paperwork while I am at a doctor’s appointment. I am okay with either way, but others may not feel this way. I do feel like some people would type more into a computer instead of writing it all down or speaking with the medical professionals. In the article, The American Perspective on Aging and Health, a lot of elderly people feel frightened by new ideas or technology such as computers, Internet, social media, etc. It’s not because they are incompetent it’s because of their way of thinking. In my opinion, a doctor’s office should have an assistant that is kind, patient, and passionate about working with all populations. This assistant should assist the patients when they need help or become

Health care has been an issue for the United States for several years. Universal health care has still not been accomplished, and this means there are many people uninsured across the country who could be seeking medical attention, but cannot afford it. Another problem recently surfaced for the United States. This problem is the aging population. There are many factors that have contributed to the aging population, and they greatly effect health care.

In the other hand, sometimes not matter how much you give of yourself, things don’t turn out the way it was planned, may be the economy is not strong yet, or it is not their time.

Everyone has seen the commercials, television shows, and movies: Life Alert portraying older Americans as being afraid for their lives with an almost comical slogan of “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” The Golden Girls with their typical silly old woman antics and witty comments. Even Disney has not been immune to stereotyping our aging Americans as indicated by the grumpy, lonely old man in Up. Our society is struggling with a rampant bout of Ageism, and most people don’t even realize that it is happening or that ageism is even a real concern. The purpose of the Organization for the Awareness of Media Portrayal of Older Americans (OAMPOA) is to bring public attention to the perhaps unintentional defamation of older adults and to offer

The CDC (2013) defines aging in place as “the ability to live in one’s own home and community safely, independently, and comfortably, regardless of age, income, or ability level” (Healthy places terminology). The idea of aging in place has received growing attention from many entities over the past decade. According to AARP (2014), one in three Americans is now 50 or older, and by 2030, one in five Americans will be 65 and older. Moreover, evidence exists that home evaluation and home modification interventions are effective in promoting home safety, positively influencing task performance, and reducing falls in the older adult population. Regarding health care practitioners and older adults, a variety of major public health problems exist

Ageing females are also portrayed as undesirable in the media due to the language used. This language is aimed at shaping, reinforcing, and reflecting the attitudes and responses made towards growing older among women. Language is understood to carry and convey the meaning which leads to the assumptions that encourage the development of discrimination and stereotypes towards ageing females. The language also has the ability to encode stereotypes and scripts that are discriminatory in nature which makes discrimination a normal part of everyday life. In particular, the media can play a role in the establishment of implicit bias through using language that is stereotypical and prejudicial when representing ageing females in the media (Gendron et al., 2016). This in turn makes older women to be portrayed as undesirable in the media. An example where the language used by media has contributed to the portrayal of ageing females as undesirable can be drawn from a popular sitcom, “The Golden Girls”, aired between 1985 and 1992. This comedy highlighted social issues that are associated with elderly women. In this comedy, the negative construction of ageing women was illustrated by the character of the octogenarian mother, where this character was depicted as being intelligent but yet stubborn with a difficult to please character. Another example of how language is used by media to portray ageing females as undesirable can be drawn from a popular commercial made during the mid-1980s. In this commercial, one of the three old women is heard asking repeatedly about where the beef is, in which older people are seen as stupid and small while being exploited (Vickers, 2007). The language used in these examples appear disparaging towards older women while illustrating the extent at which ageing women are portrayed as undesirable in the media.

Firstly, I would agree with you on older adults being seen in the mass media as fragile and a burden, creating ageist generalizations. Yet, there are a small number of messages, which exhibit the elderly in a decent light. On the other hand, Robnett and Chop (2015) discovered, that there have been continuing improvements over the past 50 years in attitudes towards the elderly owing to greater public education, improved media attention, and supplementary optimistic role models in the television and movies (p. 20). Nevertheless, ageist stereotypes still exist, as individuals do not have comprehension about the consequence it has on older adults in the community. Moreover, it was well considered to specify three issues, which emerge from stereotyping