Living Old in America
In American today, those over 85 are now the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population. Medical advances allowed the number of Americans to live longer with healthier lives but comorbidities for others. In the past two decades, patients died from viruses, influenza and pneumonia. Today, advancement in healthcare has created a new development. Now that vaccines, procedures and medicine are available for all these diseases that once took the lives of the young and old population, the American people are living longer with a new challenge. Elderly are now living with multi-morbidities and are experiencing debilitating physical decline that often requires an immense amount of care and is more than the American healthcare system projected. The real problem that is at stake is that fewer caregivers are available to provide the care necessary
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On one hand there is a ninety-four year old man or woman functioning like a 65 year old (still working and requiring very little assistance). While on the other hand there is a 65-100 year old elderly patient dying a slow death from their multiple morbidities. The story gave an eye opening realism of how the elderly will be mismanaged if healthcare doesn’t start initiating a plan. During the PBS (2006) documentary on Living Old, Dr. Kass states “The bad news is that the price that many people are going to be paying for an extra decade of healthy longevity is up to another decade of anything but healthy longevity. … We 've not yet begun to face up to what this means in human terms”. I feel the obligation to get involved as an Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) and help change the outlook of the population that is living older. Within twenty years, one in five Americans will be over 65 and an estimated 90 percent of those Americans will have one or more chronic condition (Wood,
It is my analysis of the financial burden and decisions we had to make for my grandmother is that as the demand increases for long-term care as the baby boomer population ages, Medicare and Medicaid will be forced to reevaluate how they pay for long-term care. Many states are not equipped to handle the comprehensive needs of this aging population (Ford, Henderson, & Handley, 2010). Also, families are forced to take on enormous financial burdens due to the lack of coverage by Medicare (Can Medicare, 2015). The are no true pros to this situation.
Callahan wants us to understand a new perspective of old age; we must know the meaning of the human life cycle and have limits when spending money in addition to programs to prolong life with no value (Callahan, p.592). Extended life shouldn’t be the worry, the worry should be the quality of the elderly person’s life and how one can make it better now and as painless as possible. The goal that should be in mind is to give meaning to elderly life by making it a “decent and honorable time” (Callahan,
Americans are living too long. They are trying to prolong life and delay death. One such person, Ezekiel Emanuel wrote "Why I Hope to Die at 75," and he argues that living too long is a loss (1). He is stating that he does not like this trend. Emanuel does not hope to extend his life as long as possible.
Discussion 5- Advocacy According to recent data, the baby boom generation will have all retired by 2030, (AARP), which is only 15 years from now. The population in this generation will include 77 million more 65 and older individuals, not including the 54 million already in retirement and receiving Social Security and Medicare benefits. Please note that many seniors also receive some form of federal benefits such as military pensions, survivor’s benefits, annuities, investments income or an awarded settlement (Quad Agno, 14). Unfortunately, in our society driven many times by greed, this has placed our seniors in vulnerable positions, particularly when health and cognitive functions have declined; a slight disadvantage of becoming older (Quadagno,
Death has always plagued humanity. Humans in the past have rebbuttled sickness with medicine. Humans and medicine have evolved alongside one another while disease continued to manifest rampantly. Some escalated to a severity that left individuals with less than a forty percent chance to live past the age of thirty. Unfortunately, this was the harsh reality for countless individuals during the Antebellum Louisiana era because the medical resources medical professionals had during late 1800s were vastly different in comparison to the resources available in today’s society. .
Aging policy in America has caused on three domains of security for elders: economic security, health security, and functional security (Chernof, 2011). In the years to follow the crisis of the aging Americans, will need comprehensive intervention that will impact older Americans and what’s really in it for Elders. In devising a plan to ensure that the planners, government, private agencies, health care and service organizations are all devoted to providing and caring for the aging. Significant demographic changes in the history of the American people in this century.
The feeling of being able to alleviate the suffering of an acutely ill patient is at once incredibly satisfying and immensely humbling. I am constantly in awe of the fact that by coming to work everyday, I have the privilege of helping others who cannot care for themselves. During my time in my Clinical Care Extender Internship, I developed a special interest in caring for the geriatric population and have had the opportunity of serving as a personal caregiver to an elderly woman with dementia. I do not take the trust and confidence that my patient places in me lightly and work hard to advocate and provide for her safety because she deserves no less. Thus, in the interest of patient advocacy, as a nurse in your facility, I will seek to improve the practices that will keep my patients safe and promote their healing.
In Canada in 2012, 10% of those 65 to 74 years, 21% of those aged 75 to 84 and 45% of those 85 years and older received care in their home. Recent research has found that 25% of employed Canadians are caring for an elderly dependant. Of these, three quarters are middle-aged women caring for a parent with chronic health problems. Increased expenses and reduced work hours may create financial strains for these caregivers and their families. Additionally, working Canadians will likely be hit with a significantly higher tax bill in the future to pay for increased health care spending required to support the growing number of Canadian seniors.
The elderly are a largely growing population but they are treated as a minority group. They are placed in assisted living care for numerous reasons such as convenience, health issues, and distress of the informal caregiver. Although assisted living may seem like the best situation for our aging society the movie suggests that this may not be the case. There are many special instances that the elderly have to deal with, such as elder abuse and fraud, as depicted in the movie. Further investigation must be applied in order to limit the number of events like those of Joan Boice, Merle, and George
When a baby boomer turns age 65, it is expected that every 5 years their rate of developing medical conditions and diseases will double (Stewart, V. 2015). As a result, healthcare costs will drastically increase. Identifying the disease and condition early is the most efficient way to manage the budget. Medicare and Social Security systems have been forced to change, if the systems had not chosen to evolve with the change the current structure would collapse and/or bankrupt itself. Furthermore, as a means to maintain Medicare and Social Security the retirement age was extended to 66 for individuals who are born from 1943-1954, and 67 for individuals who are born from 1960 and beyond (Social Security Administration,
Final Thesis The Baby Boomer era has decreased since War War 1, leaving mostly the government and Canadians distress about how this event will impact societies economy and the debts our generation has to pay. Supporting argument #1 With the peak in births during the Baby Boomer era, this has resulted in financial instability within society. Supporting argument #2 Society as a whole is experience difficulties managing the effects of the aging Baby Boomers. Introduction During the 1947 to 1965, about 76.4 million children were born, this phenomenon was eventually labeled as the Baby Boom (Canadian Encyclopedia).
In coming decades, Scientists predict the number of people will rise to 13.8 million. The aging population is increasing because of low birth rates and increased life expectancy. As America 's population ages, there will be other health issues emerging. The most common health concerns for seniors are diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, and cancer. All of these conditions are the leading cause of death.
Ageism is discrimination or prejudice based solely on a person’s age, an extreme issue in many elderly clients that reside in sheltered housing communities, as well as quality of life. Bodner, Cohen- Friedel, and Yaretzky conducted a study involving awareness and beliefs about ageism and quality of life in sheltered housing versus those feelings in seniors who live outside such an environment. It was anticipated that that seniors within sheltered housing would have elevated agist attitudes. To test this hypothesis, they took a sample of one hundred twenty six volunteers between the ages of sixty four and ninety four. The contributors completed a survey called the Fraboni scale of ageism, and a Quality of Life (QoL) Inventory.
As adolescences enter adulthood, they enter a long transitional period, often known as “emerging adult”. This transitional period takes place over a range of 18 to 25 years old (Santrock, 2013). At this stage, emerging adults are still in exploration in the various aspect of life such as the career path they are interested in, defining their identities and a style of living they would want to adopt. Thus, adolescences who are in transition will be caught with many intense changes and will experience major life events that are all of great importance.
Introduction I. We as a human being, we age and it is said that there will be more elderly people in the future. A. According to the graph of 2012 Population Estimates and National Projections from the Current Population Report by Jennifer M. Ortman, the population aged 65 and above is projected to be 83.7 million in 2050, almost double its estimated population of