A Care Giver's Perspective: What It's Like Taking Care of Elderly Patients

Caregivers provide different levels of care for elderly citizens, from helping them bathe to running their errands and cooking their meals. It’s important to understand how caregiving services work in order to know if it is the right option for an elderly individual in your life. This blog post will shed light on a care givers’ role and their training, as well as their relationships with their clients.

Photo by Josh Appel on Unsplash

The care giver I spoke to, Maura, told me what it's like working as a care giver in Portland, Oregon. New caregivers undergo a training day that typically lasts 4-6 hours. This training includes the proper methods on how to feed, dress, and bathe their client and help them take their prescribed medications. They are additionally taught how to properly lift someone, and the correct procedures to follow if their client has a medical emergency. 

Maura's daily tasks that she does for her patients include cleaning, preparing meals, helping them take medicine, bathing, walking their pets, and driving her patients to their appointments. Not all care givers are qualified for the same tasks. For example, Maura is not qualified to take care of someone who is on hospice. She does however have experience with patients who have Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease. If she were to be assigned to a new patient with different special requirements, then she would be required to attend additional training. 

Maura works with her patients to ensure they are comfortable, often asking their opinion on what they would like to eat or do that day. She believes that care workers are more cost effective than in-home facilities because the patient pays for the services hourly, and only as often as they need. Maura visits some patients only 4 hours per week. Not only is this method more cost effective, but it builds a relationship between the care worker and their patient. Once Maura's daily tasks are completed, she often spends time with her patients by conversing with them or watching movies together. At the end of our interview, Maura confided that she considers her patients as family, and enjoys taking care of them.

Note: Research is provided through interview with a caregiver in the state of Oregon. This person's name has been changed to protect their identity.

Resource Issues in Marginalized Elderly Communities

A 2014 study by Hummer and colleagues titled “Race/Ethnicity, Mortality, and Longevity” found that both Hispanic and African Americans have higher mortality rates than white Americans, with African American mortality rat being significantly higher that the other two. Socioeconomic disparities which exist as a symptom of systemic racism and the income inequality stemming from it persist as the predominant causes of this high mortality rate among non-whites, especially African Americans. The strangest realization the aforementioned study reaches is the low Hispanic mortality rate in relation to that of African Americans.

For African Americans and Hispanic minorities whom defy their expected mortality rate to survive into an elderly age, it becomes even more difficult for them to survive comfortably as it is for most white Americans. Most have to work well into their elderly ages in order to be able to acquire the resources necessary to survive and increasing medical expenses. More needs to be done in order to assure that marginalized elderly demographics are given more resources to allow them to ease into old age with comfort and dignity.

You can read more at: https://www.asaging.org/blog/aging-minority-status-and-disability

photo by Jan Kroon

Elderly Companion Animals

Picture going to the doctor and being prescribed a companion animal. From physical benefits like being more active outside and walking, to psychological benefits such as lowering anxiety and stress, companion animals really do positively impact health. For elderly people sometimes a companion animal can be a life saver.

A 12 year study conducted with 3.4 million adults ages 40 to 80 found that dog owner had a lower risk of death due to heart disease. These benefits were especially evident among people who lived alone. Single dog owners had an 11% lower risk of having a heart attack during the study compared to non dog owners. Another study found that patients who recently suffered a heart attack, showed a mortality rate among people with pets being one third that of patients without an animal companion. According to that same study approximately one million people die of heart disease each year. This means animal companionship may save 30,000 lives per year.

Things that elderly individuals should consider when adopting an animal are their own mobility and activity levels and the age of the animal they are considering for adoption. Some people may need an active dog to get them moving and others may need a Garfield cat to snuggle with to avoid loneliness.

There are many benefits to having a pet and elderly people are no exception. Many organizations and shelters have been established to assist elderly people to adopt pets. One of the best is Pets for the Elderly and more information can be found at http://petsfortheelderly.org/

Elderly people can save animals and in turn, the animals may just save them. 

Fall Prevention for Older Adults

Falls are the number one cause of accidental injury and death among adults over 65. Every 11 seconds, an older adult is treated in an emergency setting due to a fall, with one older adult dying from these accidents every 19 minutes. The majority of seniors wish to age in their own homes, so it is crucial that the proper steps are taken to reduce the risk of potentially life-threatening falls.

To reduce the risk of falls in your home all floor coverings should be secured, the floors should be cleared of loose items, and furniture should be arranged to provide adequate space for movement. If possible, consider centering your home on one floor to avoid traversing stairs more than necessary. Ramps can be installed over outdoor stairs and all steps should have a close, secure railing. Bathroom safety can be increased by placing grab bars in tubs, installing shower or tub seats, and placing rubber mats in tubs and on floors.

Proper lighting can be beneficial to lessening the risks of falling, as eyesight can reduce with age. Make sure all rooms and stairways are well-lit using bulbs with the highest appropriate wattage. Lights or neon tape can also be placed on the edges of steps for safety. Consider motion sensors if light switches prove difficult to access. 

Maintaining health can reduce risk of falls as well as lessen any physical damage in the event of a fall. Staying physically active as you age can improve balance and mobility. If taking any medications, take extra precautions if the side effects include dizziness, fatigue, or lightheadedness, as medication use is one of the most common causes of increased falling risk.

The National Council on Aging provides a comprehensive resource on falls statistics and prevention located here: National Falls Prevention Resource Center

Sustainability of Medicare and Social Security

As it stands, both Medicare and Social Security will run out of money in their trusts in the next decade and be forced to reduce the benefits offered. Already, these programs constitute more than a third of all federal spending (nearly half if you include medicaid), and the costs are expected to rise further as the population ages and as the cost of medical care increases. The Affordable Care Act AKA Obamacare implemented changes that reduced the expected budget shortfall by more than 75%, but there is still more that can be done.

There are, as always, two ways to fix this lack of funding: cut costs or increase revenue. No one wants to reduce the services provided, so is it possible to provide the same services at a lower cost? In other developed nations, public health care is funded at about the same rate when expressed as a percentage of GDP, but that covers their entire population. Clearly, our system has a lot of room for improvement in terms of cost, such as by not paying such exorbitant rates for prescription drugs. Social Security, on the other hand, gives money to the recipients directly as income, so cutting costs here is not feasible.

As for revenue, both programs are supposed to be funded from payroll taxes, but with the changing demographics the ratio of workers to beneficiaries will drop from 3:1 to 2:1. Even now, additional funding is being drawn from other sources. The largest source of potential revenue is corporate income taxes. While the corporate tax rate was theoretically 35% (now 21% with the 2017 tax cuts), the actual taxes paid were roughly 7% of corporate profits. If corporations paid even the new 21% rate, that would add half a trillion dollars to the budget.

In short, there is more than enough money available to continue to fund these programs in the coming decades, so long as we can keep corporate greed in check. A report from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities gives an excellent overview of the issue and some of the measures that can be taken to counter it. Most of these are matters of policy, so get in contact with your representative and senators, tell them to seek a solution that will keep Medicare solvent while keeping all of its benefits.

Identity Crisis

At the time of our creation, we are entirely dependent on a single human being for the fulfillment of our every need. When we enter the world as a newborn our support system grows, but we are still unable to provide for ourselves. When we finally experience a small moment of independence as a small child in the form of walking, self-entertainment, or even something as small as carrying our own glass of milk to the dinner table it is a moment of triumph, and the beginning to something we will take pride in for the rest of our lives.

Independence is at the core of our identity, culture, and pride. Great milestones in life are centered on independence. For example, being able to drive a car, becoming a legal adult, getting a job, or buying a house. The more independence we have, and the longer we have it, the more important it becomes to the quality of our life and our comfort. Can you imagine, at the point you are now, being stripped of everything you’ve worked hard for and moving in with strangers and be treated as a child? If you can’t, you’re not alone. Our seniors who have spent many more decades being independent and prideful than we have, can’t imagine it either.

When we assume what is best for someone else we do them the disrespect of chipping away at their identity. Many seniors are still capable of living independently and need help with some small day to day tasks and errands. If your best friend called one day from the hospital to say they had been paralyzed and could no longer drive to the grocery store to pick up groceries, what would you do? Would you say they are no longer capable of living on their own and should be put in a home or would you offer to take them to the store every so often so they could continue living in their home with the highest quality of life and comfort possible? What if they couldn’t get up the steps to their front door because now they are in a wheelchair? Would you tell them to move, or help them build a ramp to be able to stay in their home?

Most people would balk at the idea of not helping their friend. We tend to feel respect and admiration for those who are disabled but make every effort to live independently and “normally”. Why is it that we do not feel the same sense of respect and admiration for aging seniors making the same effort? Most seniors already feel a sense of embarrassment when they need help. It challenges their decade’s long identity of independence, self-sufficiency, and capability. This identity crisis is compounded with how they are viewed and treated differently once close family members, friends, and neighbors realize they are need of some assistance.

The challenges of aging are overwhelming for everyone involved, not just the person aging. In order to relieve some unnecessary stress from the situation it is important for people to learn about how to support their loved one aging in place not only for their loved one's benefit, but for their own. The biggest motivator for moving a loved one out of their home isn't because they need help, it's because they need help we feel we can't provide. There are dozens of simple, cost-effective, and meaningful options that will allow us to provide the support our loved one needs while staying in their own home. 

If you would like to know more about those solutions, check out this resource from the Aging in Place website: https://www.aginginplace.org/

Importance of Calcium in Diet!

When it comes to health there is a lot we can do to make it easier on yourself in your golden years. One way to stay healthy to intake a lot of calcium this way your bones can grow strong and stay strong. Maintaining bone health can make it easier for you to grow to and it helps lessen the blow of some falls.

When it comes to maintaining an intake of calcium there are food and drinks that can help with this and some might surprise you! One good source is actually almonds, almonds are the highest in calcium out of all the nuts out there. The foods with the most calcium are mostly dairy but there are some leafy greens that can also help you get your calcium intake as well. Such as spinach and kale, these are just a couple of examples of how you can get the calcium you need to make your bones stronger.

As you can see there are a lot of ways to make the intake of calcium easy and maintainable. There are even a lot of options for you even when your lactose intolerant and this way you don’t have to worry about not getting your calcium intake. Try adding some of these foods to your daily meals and you can make your bones stronger as well as make for a healthier future!

Links to Look At!

https://www.eatright.org/health/wellness/healthy-aging/special-nutrient-needs-of-older-adults

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/15-calcium-rich-foods#section1