What Are The Three Major Health Issues And Challenges?

More people are living much longer lives than in years past. People are very surprised to be living much longer lives than they thought they would. Health care has played a large part in patient longevity. There are many normal changes that come along with aging, however, because people are living longer these normal changes can become chronic problems. Common aging problems that can make the older adult a vulnerable population are reviewed in Gerontological Nursing (Tabloski, 2014) and can include nutritional needs, medication management, sleep changes, oral or mouth care, renal problems and musculoskeletal concerns. According to A Profile of Older Americans: 2013 (http://www.hhs.gov), there are a large amount

As a person ages, theirs body cannot perform the way it used to. This will cause many elderly people to loose their job or choose to go into retirement. Both of these options cause a loss in health care as well and a reduced or exterminated income. Here alone lies a reason that the elderly population is challenged. The elderly population also has a tendency to develop a chronic illness that can be life threatening if not treated or controlled properly. This means that need for health care treatments also increases. At least 40% of those over age 65 will have nutrition-related health problems requiring treatment or management (Gigante, 2012). It is important to realize that 10% of people over the age of 65 and will develop Alzheimer’s disease and 50% of those over the age of 85 will develop this disease (Gigante, 2012). More elderly African American men and women use government aid than white men and women. Therefore, this population will be vulnerable because of the lack of funding, proper health care and insurance.

Long-term care healthcare delivery will be a great/popular option for many of these senior citizens. The long-term care healthcare delivery system falls within the continuum of care. The continuum of care is a series of heath care services that are provided to a great number of older adults who are in need of them throughout the course of their life/older life. The care ranges from: personal care, custodial care, restorative care, skill nursing care, and sub acute care (Shi & Singh, 2012). Different providers work together within the continuum to provide the right care to those in need. The continuum of care, as stated in Long Term Care: Managing Across the Continuum, is “comprehensive, integrated, and client-oriented”(Pratt, 2010). All the services offered should be client-based and cater to the client’s needs and suitable care. The client should be able to obtain services when it is needed from the provider, making it comprehensive. All the different long-term care providers should be interconnected between one another, because their goal is all the same, which is to care for the client’s needs. The continuum of care consists of: nursing facilities, sub acute care, assisted living, residential care, elderly housing, and a variety of community-based services (Pratt, 2010). All these different providers work together to care for the individuals within the health care industry, creating the continuum and making it integrated. As the future progresses and a great amount of

1. Exercise can help improve arthritis for seniors who suffer from it. Range-of-motion, strength and endurance exercises can all relieve stiffness, improve flexibility and lessen pain.

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.

The document Seniors and Aging – Osteoarthritis as part of the It’s Your Health newsletter was prepared by Health Canada in collaboration with the Public Health Agency of Canada. The target audience of this document are the at-risk population of seniors in Canada, who are at an increased risk for developing osteoarthritis. The document emphases certain risk factors that increase the likelihood of getting osteoarthritis and highlights potential steps to decrease one’s likelihood of developing the condition. The majority of Canadians with osteoarthritis are above the age of seventy. Therefore, the purpose of the document is to decrease the prevalence of osteoarthritis by educating the population about risk factors for developing the condition.

According to Statistics Canada, aging population has steadily increased since the mid-1960. The age of 65 and older comprised 15.7% of the country’s population. Promoting health in these aging population is very crucial to minimise the severity of health complications that might occur in the long run. Gerontological Nursing involves the care of aging people and emphasize the promotion of the highest possible quality of life and wellness throughout the lifespan (Eliopoulos, c2014 p73). Aging people need Gerontological Nurses who are knowledgeable and willing to promote health and optimum quality of life with the consideration of their core needs such as physiological balance, connection and gratification (Eliopoulos, c2014 p78).

The Living Old program is about the United States of America population of people who are over 85 years old. This video was broken down into a six chapters. The first chapter was called, “Our Aging Society.” This chapter was about how the geriatric population is growing and changing our current society. In addition to the present changes, Doctor Audrey Chun commented on how people in the past died from pneumonia, flus, and other things such as infectious diseases. Whereas, in present time people are dying from chronic diseases such as hypertension, heart failure, strokes, diabetes and other things that require management over the years. This chapter also touched on how the current health care system is not set up to treat chronic diseases.

The paper will discuss falls prevention in the older adult over the age of 55 and new and alternative interventions for fall prevention compared to current practice. The desired outcome of the paper is to provide information for fall prevention and, therefore, decrease the occurrence of falls. First, in order to understand the importance falls have within the clinical setting, statistics showing the mortality, morbidity and financial impact should be understood. The occurrence of falls within the acute care setting is a growing problem among the elderly. The evidence shows that one in three people aged 65 or older will sustain a fall and that only half will report the fall to a caregiver (CDC, 2014). The number increases to one in two when the patient reaches the age of 80. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) defines a fall when a person unintentionally comes to rest on the ground or another lower level. Falls are not an inevitable part of aging, however, aging does influence such things as reduced mobility, comorbidities, and cognitive impairment which contribute to fall risk. Falls are one of the leading causes of injuries in the acute care setting. The injuries sustained from falls leads to increased hospital stay time and a chance for further injuries which may harm the patient (CDC, 2014). According to the CDC in 2013, 2.5 million people suffered a fall, of these falls 734,000 were hospitalized. The falls also resulted in 22,900 people dying from fall

This article tells us what the advantages of exercising are. “Physical activity is essential to optimizing both physical and mental health and can play a vital role in the management of arthritis” (Bartlett) This type of physical activity helps the joints move more easily and helps enlarge the muscles. Another main point is that doctors of arthritic patients can motivate them to start exercising their joints and muscles. These patients trust their doctors to give them the right information and listen to them and do what they tell them to do rather than listening to non-professionals. Moreover, arthritic patients should be mentally ready to do physical activity. They need to be ready to exercise and be confident. Exercising not only helps with

Recognition, evaluation and treatment of this population requires interdisciplinary approach. The interdisciplinary approach collaborate with various groups to provide adequate resources to the vulnerable population. The internal and external factors impact health status of older adults and contributes to vulnerability risk. The internal factor occur due to physiological changes such as increasing age, gender, sensory impairment, memory impairment, substance abuse along with medical co morbidities, malnutrition, decrease in performance of activity of daily living or dependency on care giver or

In general, seniors are vulnerable to a range of chronic health conditions such as diabetes, cancer, chronic heart diseases, arthritis and Alzheimer’s disease which adversely influence their quality of life. These diseases also increase demands on the healthcare system (5). It was reported in 2012 that approximately 85% of seniors aged 65 to 79 years and about 90% of seniors aged over 80 years have at least one chronic condition (6). In 2004, about 1.7% of the total Canadian labour force were seniors. The number of Canadian seniors aged 65 or over participating in the labour force was approximately 300,000 (287,000 of them are employed and 9,000 actively looking for work) (7). This impacts the health of seniors because the more the number of seniors participating in the workforce, the more physically active and healthier they are. Working also provides an additional means of income besides their pension funds which would help improve the quality of life.

Aging is a universal phenomenon and humans are no exception. Gerontology deals with the psychological, social and biological aspects of aging process. A recent study shows that people aged 85 years and older are expected to augment from 5.3 million people to 21 million as the world reach 2050. In today’s world Gerontology has an enormous role to play so that the senior citizens could be analyzed and their needs may be addressed with compassion and empathy.

To bust the myth about older adult dependency, only 1 out of 4 older adults will ever stay in a nursing home at any point in their life (Retire these 10 myths of aging, 2014). In a study by Mauk (2008), it was shown that osteoporosis is treatable and can be prevented with early exercise. Exercise in the elderly has its benefits. Whether one exercises early on in life or just begins exercising in their later older adult life, there are significant health benefits (Dittmann, 2003). There are options for older adults to stay healthy and prevent themselves from becoming dependent.

In the United States, arthritis has become the second most common disorder, in the past years. Moreover, the condition affects more than 34 million Caucasians, 4.6 million African-Americans and nearly 3.1 million Hispanics with women being the most affected (Helmick, 2008). 28.3% of people suffering from arthritis are women whereas 18.2% are men (Helmick, 2008). By the year 2030, it is predicted that the number of patients with arthritis will double if prevalence rates remain the same. Apart from being cost-intensive, Osteoarthritis (OA) affects nearly twenty seven million Americans, which effectively limits their work (Reid, Shengelia & Parker, 2012). The statistics show that Caucasians are the most affected and the Hispanics to be the less affected from Caucasians, Hispanics, and African Americans. It also shows how women also have greater possibilities of getting arthritis than man ever did.