The Elder Woman Interviewee For A Health Plan Organization

In the early 1940’s Marie was born into a small tight knit family living in a small rural Kentucky town. Marie is now in her seventies and has led a very interesting life traveling the country, raising four children, and shaping her chosen profession. Our interview sessions were conducted over a period of time, as Marie is very active and has little “free time” to spare.

As people age they develop many special needs related to the later period of life. Many elderly people have specific physical needs where adaptations to their home are necessary or where they need specific equipment for self care. Old age also brings new emotional challenges for the elderly person when the family can be useful in helping to meet the persons mental health needs. Senior citizens experience needs in their social life; they also experience the need for activities with other seniors. Health needs also negatively affect the elderly and cause multiple physical problems. Every elderly person experiences needs that are related to each of these areas.

Interviewing John gave me a better understanding with our older generation, and the struggles they faced throughout their lives. The purpose of this paper was to gain a better knowledge about our elder’s health, lifestyle, and many challenges they have encountered.

1) Encouraging and maintaining healthy familial relationships as well as a sense of purpose associated with working ad service aid in enjoying late age adulthood.

The elderly experience many changes in marriage, family, and peer relations (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman,  2010). Generally retirees who are married have been in their marriages for many years. These couples have a routine that they are used to and have followed for many years. There are unsaid rules of who handles the finances and who handles family responsibilities, such as taking care of the home. Retirement may disrupt these roles and routines and change everything about them. Medical issues can also take a toll on a marriage (Dale, Smith, & Norlin,  2009). If one spouse becomes ill or debilitated in any way, the healthy spouse may become angry, depressed, and frustrated with taking care of all of the responsibilities. If a spouse dies it can be very difficult for the living spouse to deal with (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman,  2010). Retirees who are not married also face new problems when faced with retirement. This group of people must learn to live on a fixed income. Peer relationships change because older people tend to reduce their number of contracts with the world and tend to be less active and withdraw from their social surroundings (Dale, Smith, & Norlin,  2009). This is called disengagement. This is a very difficult task, and only a few people can adjust with it smoothly. Those who were more active in social activities in their earlier lives, find it most difficult. Older people also

The term “aging” refers to a complex process of biological, physical, psychological and social changes in a person as he/ she ages over their lifetime. Typically, the term refers to older adults and takes on the meaning of the process of “getting old” and “being old”. It relates not only to how individuals live, act and perceive themselves, but also to society’s culture and perceptions, society’s policies and support systems designed for their needs - be it health care, social,

Worldwide, with increase in life expectancy more women and men are experiencing the role of grandparent and length of occupancy in the role is increasing (Armstrong, 2003). However in America, after age 75, about 9 percent have difficulty carrying out activities of daily living (Berk, 2010). When considering the cultural approach of aging in late adulthood, we see that aging adults are treated differently depending on what community or cultural background they originated from. With the increase in life expectancy, many opportunities had been provided to psychologists to conduct research and practice with aging adults (APA, 2003). This has enabled many researchers to study aging in the United States and other countries. With those

Comparing a well elder and a frail elder provides a better understanding of how the aging process is dependent upon the previously stated environments and contexts. M.R. and V.L. are proof that the individual’s environments and contexts guide the aging process. M.R. is a 90-year-old female who suffers from moderate dementia, type 2 diabetes and a history of falls and requires assistance with most of her ADLs and IADLs. V.L. is also a 90-year-old female; she is healthy aside from minor arthritis and leads a very active life, both physically and socially.

Janice: You did an amazing job in presenting your summary. I thoroughly enjoyed reading key highlights mentioned in your post. You stated that “effective communication between nurses and other health care team members is critical to patient safety; lack or inadequate communication compromises patient safety.” Your statement certainly resonated with me, as this is something I had witnessed firsthand during the care process of my Grandmother. My family once had to make a critical decision of removing my grandmother from the nursing home facility she was currently staying at the time, after my family discovered that the nursing home did not follow specific instructions provided by the surgeon who performed a hip surgery on my grandmother. Indeed,

The most rapidly growing age group in the United States is the elderly, or those individuals age sixty-five and older (Wood, Wood, & Boyd, 2011). Late adulthood stretches from age 65 to the end of the lifespan (Laura E Berk, 2010, p. 1). Or it can be called gerontology which is the study of the aging processes and individuals as they grow from middle age through later life. ("Association For Gerontology For Higher Education ", n.d.). In order to understand the changes in late adulthood I interviewed a sixty eight year old African American male, who I will refer to as the participant. He is retired from Military and Law Enforcement each he has

The older adult I had the opportunity to interview was my boyfriend 's step grandmother. I met her a few years ago when we took a vacation in Florida, and thought she would be a great person to interview, because she is outgoing and has aged well. I conducted a telephone interview for this assignment, because she is currently in Florida for the remainder of the Spring season.

L was married for 20 years. She has 2 daughters; one is going to school and the other lives in Texas. Her mother has been living with her for 3 ½ years. She enjoys movies, having coffee with her friends once a week, and her two grandchildren. She is active in her church, and used to do prison ministry. She works in Gerontology at the Health Sciences Center and has been a Tech employee for 25 years.

I went into heritage health expecting to interview a senior citizen, instead I found someone who reminds me very much of myself. Her name is Dorothy and she was originally from Morris IL. She moved down to Jacksonville to be closer to her family. She grew up in the town of Morris and always thought she would live the life of a farmer. She met her husband in high school and said that her fondest memory was when she thinks back on her wedding day. His family was so caring and they accepted her into the family with open arms. Her family loved him as well and she would joke around with her husband about how her mother always liked him more than her! The country life snuck up on her and she loved every minute of it. After graduation from high school

Complications are part of aging, and severe health difficulties, deteriorating purposeful capabilities, economic limitations, and loss of social position are a few of the possibly life-altering topics that elderly adults may confront (Flood & Phillips, 2007). Psychological ups and downs and lingering sickness are linked with older adulthood, and they may distress an individual’s capabilities. The social and psychological trials are owed to fluctuations in part to: minimal interactions, losses, and housing situations. Age-linked variations are unavoidable for example,