Patients

One of the goals of my project was to get a first hand account of eldercare from the patients perspective. I interviewed 5 patients one on one, asking them all the same 3 questions. The results were all extremely different from each other, as the questions asked could be answered personal to each patient. Below are the questions I asked, as well as each patients answers.

1. What do you believe our society thinks about the elderly?

2. Is there a connection between the way our society thinks about the elderly and the treatment that the elderly receive today?

3. Do you have any personal experiences or stories you would like to share about the elder care, treatment, policy, or our society’s general attitude towards the elderly?

Patient 1

• Answer

  Q1: I don’t know. They’re treated well, if they [the elderly] themselves had planned for it, but that only comes if you earn enough money for it. If you have no money, from what I see, it becomes difficult. I’ve seen people here, who have to go home because their insurance has run out, and there’s nobody at their homes with them. The people I know that are considered elderly, have at least some monetary success because they were able to plan for it.

  Q2: I don’t know what the society thinks about the elderly. I live in a cocoon of my own, and I’m not able to directly answer these questions, as I’m not interacting with that many people day to day being frank. I planned, that someday my wife and I would need help. We saved money and put it aside, even with that and the care she received. Thankfully in these times, we have medicaid which helps cover a lot of care received which can help people.

  Q3: The care my wife received before her passing was phenomenal. In this day, of course everything is much more expensive so around the clock nursing— even for three months can be considered a privilege.

Patient 2

• Answer

  Q1: In American culture, no. It's not like other cultures where elders are respected, here I feel we're pushed to the side. In the work place, for some who are working too, like myself we're treated as incapable and weaker. I'm a lawyer, and I still am representing clients, but I'm treated very differently than I was before because I'm "elderly".

  Q2: yes, labor laws, professional events, passive assumptions, are all big instances that happen to elderly. It's assumed that once you reach a certain age, you just won't work but that's not always the case, like me. passive assumptions especially travel past workplace, and into healthcare the judgment and the assumptions about me working are still apparent. It's looked down upon almost in both healthcare, and daily life.

  Q3: Younger people LOVE to use the word "still", like "you're still working, wow" coming across as passive and shocked like in my previous answer. It's not in a mean way, it's just in a shocked way like I'm expected to not be a lawyer past a certain age. I think this has to do with people, and its common to retire early now, or retire right at a certain age but most people don't have that luxury, or in my case I love what I do too much to not do it.

Patient 3

• Answer

  Q1: Not much. Most of the time I feel like I'm on the back of everybody's mind, including my family. In this day and age it's sad, but true that people just overlook elderly and treat them like nothing if they do at all. Especially in the younger generation, its more then just disrespect or disregard, we're ignored or just seen as people who are going to pass away soon.

  Q2: I think that this can also be said about healthcare now. In a facility like this one, I mean everybody has been caring and sees me, but that's not always the case. I think people have the thoughts of "whats the point, I'm not going to live much longer" and that affects how I'm treated, or even the care I receive. It's sad, you know I wish they [healthcare industry] were more caring for us sometimes.

  Q3: I listed my experiences in a way, but I feel lonely, forgotten, and not treated well a lot of the time. As you get older, you get lonelier and I think nowadays everybody is consumed with so much, that the last of the electronic less generation is just pushed aside.

Patient 4

• Answer

  Q1: They don't exist. We're invisible to them, even friends and family. I don't want to get too upset because not everybody is like this, but it's a more common thing now to disregard elderly.

  Q2: Ideally, we're treated better than most cases. People tend to treat elderly as frail or incapable, but obviously you know, there's always people who don't and we aren't invisible too. But in general, they [nurses] I feel like don't care about me.

  Q3: I don't really have much else to say on the matter, I have care, I have medicaid, but there's elderly who don't have that, and their lives become harder you know.

Patient 5

• Answer

  Q1: Complicated. some people think that they should be treated with highest respect, and some people think they're just invisible. It depends on a lot, but overall in my experience, you know I am grateful I have a family who cares for me, and other friends who also are in the same boat as me.

  Q2: yes, I believe so. The care I've received is very supportive, and I've been treated well. It's a good thing, it's a great thing actually. I've heard of bad experiences, but the people around me, I think at least, really do care.

  Q3: I'm very fortunate to be receiving the care I am. To be around 24/7 help in a facility like this one, it's a good thing.

Staff

Along with interviewing 5 patients, I also interviewed 5 staff members. Each staff member has a different position, as I wanted to get different viewpoints and opinions. Like before, I asked each of them the same 3 questions:

1. What role do you believe the elderly play in our society? Do your beliefs about the elderly align with our society?

2. What are the biggest challenges in elder care today?

3. What are the contributing factors to these challenges you see?

Nicole- Assistant Administrator

• Answer

  Q1: I believe that the elderly in society, the role that they play, is storytelling, wisdom, and experience. They have been through (depending on the age), two world wars, some have been through one. Where the world is today compared to where the world was at back then is obviously two separate things, so I think that they play a very important role in humbling us today and putting into perspective how lucky we are today to have the opportunities, technology, and although not a perfect world a much more advanced world. They [elderly] continue to let us know how we got to where we are today. I think society overall, disvalues the elderly, so I don't think my beliefs align with society.

  Q2: The fact that we are so medically advanced nowadays, that we (in America specifically) has the lowest life expectancy, however due to the technology in the world, we're keeping people alive longer then they should be. They aren't living a quality of life, so I think it is amazing we're able to sustain a life, but we're not giving someone a quality life which can be detrimental to the family, person, society. I think the other challege is that a lot of current elderly people are at the poverty line, so people who have worked all their life, but due to the current economic system may not be able to receive the care they may need.

  Q3: I belive Insurances play a big role in contributing to the challenges, but also how society disvalues elderly and treats them as if they're nothing. So I think the way society views elderly puts a strain on that. I feel like sometimes, they may hinder or play a role in their challenges.

Travis- Social Work Director

• Answer

  Q1: The elderly play a great role in society where they give guidance, and certain experiences to the youth that haven't experienced yet (i.e. financial hardship, jobs) across the board. thats one of the primary roles of them. They give support and guide the younger generation. Yes, my view is different from society because there's a lot of different thought when it comes to elderly in this society where they [elderly] are frail, and incapable of daily things, but they're very much the opposite. So my opinion doesn't line up.

  Q2: The biggest challenges now are financial liability, and insurance coverage. Unfortunately insurance only covers so much so a lot of elderly have to provide financially for themselves, whether thats hiring someone privately or physical therapy. Also, I would say family support is crucial and some elderly don't have that, so that's a big part of the financial burden that comes into play.

  Q3: You don't really think about the problem until you're faced with it. A lot of people don't plan for the future of saving until they're faced with it. They don't think about when they're going to be elderly and in need of assistance until they're at that age. But I think increasing insurance coverage would definently help in the long run, so a contributing factor is how much insurance covers for each person.

Tori- Lead of physical therapy

• Answer

  Q1: I think they do tell us a lot, like about their history and their lives in the past. The elderly and generations before us have a really strong work ethic, that younger generations could benefit learning from. It's important to understand how we got to where we are today, and they have better insight towards that. So, we could benefit from hearing their stories, and what life was like before life and what we know now.

  Q2: Healthcare plays a big role. I think there are so many different diagnosis, and illnesses that elderly deal with. Insurance also plays a big role in helping or hurting and making sure they have adequate and enough care. It's easy to put people in long term care, and one on one care is really expensive and hard for most families to support.

  Q3: Insurance and cost are leading factors. With younger generations, there are so many different kind of jobs available that going into healthcare, in terms of getting the right companions, home care, quality is still good because of how expensive it is. I think it's really important to take good care to our elders, they've given so much to us and the world it's important to give them quality care in return.

Claudette- Unit Coordinator

• Answer

  Q1: They hold a significant role in today's society. I belive they are a wealth of knowlwdge, a definite sounding board for us, as younger people to listen to. We don't necessarily have to follow everything they say, but I think that hearing their experience and their know-hows and how they dealt with things in their experiences could hold deep significance to us today. Do my beliefs align with society today? Yes and no. I think as we (humans) evolve and society evolves with technology, the elderly may not see the significance or need for such high paced existence. But, I do think there's something to be said about taking a step back, and taking a breather and not progressing in such an accelerated manor.

  Q2: I think the biggest challenge is when the elderly become disabled or more dependent on outside entities, and severs their ability to be independent and be in society themselves. Once this happens, especially for the financially dependent they could lose significant things like housing, nutrition, or even basic care. They become sick when elderly don't have the care dependents they need and the physical limitation could accelerate. Also, on a mindful standpoint, limited social standpoint, elderly become isolated and lonely. Mental states for the elderly play a big factor in their health, and when there's a factor of loneliness and independence, often times their mental state declines.

  Q3: Not everybody has care. Not everybody can have care. In today's age, it's looked at as more of a privilege to have care because it's harder to have the best care with low insurance and with the cost of everything being so high. Also, as I mentioned before, it's beyond the financial aspect. It's the social too. With a large amount of elderly who don't have the family or support system outside of nursing, it becomes harder and desolate. All these things are crucial for an elderly person.

Beverly- receptionist

• Answer

  Q1: I truly belive that elderly deserve what they worked for in past years, and they got us to where we are now. Society often forgets about that, and forgets about the generations before us. We often times take our elderly for granted, and forget that they were the ones who made what we have possible. My beliefs do not align with society, because growing up I learned to always respect elderly, and it's something I've taken with me my whole life. They're carrying over their knowledge onto the next, and have lived through experiences, and gained knowledge that we should all take from and learn from. Elderly are a significant role in society.

  Q2: It's hard for elderly to take care of themselves to the full capacity at times. As you get older, daily tasks become harder and your health weakens. With this comes around the clock care that most elders need, but cannot get. Financially based, the nursing system and medicare are very expensive and most people don't have the funds to cover it even with insurance. It's sad, but true. Most people who hire CNA's only have 2/3 hours of care a week because the cost is so high when really they would need 24 hour care. Another factor I belive is loneliness. A lot of elderly feel lonely, and pushed aside because the younger generations have the mindset of "nobody wants to take care of an old person during their free time" which plays a huge role.

  Q3: I think I mentioned them in that question above, but people expect elderly to have money. They're expected to have been saving for years to help them for when this time comes. And a lot of time they do, but it's just not enough for the time period they may need it for. This ties into the points I made before, but I think it's all true and it's a significant thing.

Summary

With all the interviews I conducted, I learned a lot about what it means to be an elderly person in society and how they’re treated and cared for. I also learned about the healthcare industry in eldercare and the current generations views on elderly. With all the interviews, there are 2 main takeaways I gathered which not only impacts patients and staff, but impacted me and my views and thoughts on the elderly in today’s society:

1. Elderly people are often undervalued, ignored, and not seen in a positive light. All the staff I interviewed all shared one opinion: elderly are a wealth of knowledge, and they should be treated so much better then they are. People take them for granted oftentimes, and under appreciate their value to many things, especially how they can help our generation. They pass down significant wisdom, tell stories about their times, and helped pave the way for the world to be where we are now.

2. Financial. The cost of living has raised, but so has the cost of healthcare. A lot of elderly people don’t have the means to provide the cost of full service health, treatments, or nursing that they need. Even with medicaid and other insurance covers, nine times out of ten it’s still difficult for patients to afford the care they need.