Challenges for Elderly People

What are the challenges for  elderly in this century? Are people aware of this issue? If not, here are some of the issues that are circulating around the world:

1. Abuse and neglect in adult daycare. 

Elderly people may suffer several implications as the years goes by. Dementia, Osteoporosis, and Alzheimer's disease are the more common ones in the age groups of 60 and up. It may affect people at the age of 65 by 10℅, and would then increase by 32℅ at the ages 85 and upwards.

Due to physical or mental health conditions, about two-thirds of the people at ages 65 and older need assistance with at least one “daily” activity. Such as bathing, or preparing a meal. That is why they are usually given to nursing home care by their families. However, Medicare does not cover the cost of long-term expenses.

In most cases, the seniors are expected to pay for these services, but it is only if they wish to stay in the nursing house care a lot longer depending on their condition. Nursing homes are not only extremely costly but also have a reputation of giving substantial care to senior citizens. Many nursing homes struggle with under-staffing issues, which can lead to neglect or abuse of the residents. Because the residents are often in poor physical or mental conditions, they can do little to help themselves if they are being mistreated or not properly cared for. In which all of these leads exponentially to elder abuse. Moreover, sometimes being in a nurse home care is not a good option for them and would much rather stay in their loved one's care.

2. Ageism 

Ageism is discrimination against people at their current age. This is mostly focused on the elderly rather than the youngsters, as this is how they have often viewed thanks to stereotypes. Society, in general, has assumed that older people tend to be frail or dependent, and a burden to everyone. Therefore, aging has been considered as discrimination to the elderly.

There are different types of ageism: personal ageism, institutional ageism, intentional ageism, and unintentional ageism. Each type is different from one another.

a. Personal Ageism - Ideas, attitudes, beliefs, and practices on the part of the individual are biased against persons or groups based on their older age. The younger generation is mostly influenced by this due to television, the internet, and the messages they leave to their mindset whether it is positive or negative. Moreover, they will be greatly influenced by these external factors, and would soon apply them to the elderly even as they reach adulthood.

b. Institutional Ageism - Missions, rules, and practices that discriminate against older age people. This is more common in jobs and workplaces, as most employees are younger in this current generation. Because of this, the older employees are forced to resign off of their position thanks to their own age.

c. Intentional Ageism - discriminating with the knowledge that they are biased against a person or a group because of age. Intentional ageism includes carrying out practices that take advantage of the vulnerabilities of older persons. Con artists are often common in these cases thanks to the discrimination over the elderly. Due to how the elderly are portrayed as a burden and useless, they would take advantage of this kind of information and scam them for it – effectively ruining their lives in this matter.

d. Unintentional Ageism – Like personal ageism but are carried out without the perpetrator’s awareness that they are being biased against people of age. This is also related to the first type of ageism, because most of the time the younger generation may have a biased outlook to the elderly thanks to the influence of the internet. However, this may not be really the case for them due to society’s discrimination against them.

3. Elder Abuse

Elder abuse includes physical, emotional, or sexual harm inflicted upon a senior citizen. It usually takes place in their homes, or even at the nurse home care facilities.

There are 6 types of elder abuse:

a. Physical Abuse – This kind of abuse involves any kind of inflicting physical force in any way that can be intentional, and would bring harm to the elderly. This also includes inappropriate usage of drugs, restraints, and confinements forced against their will.

b. Emotional/Psychological Abuse - This kind of abuse happens when people speak to or treat elderly people in ways that result in emotional pain, distress or trauma to the elderly.

There are 2 kinds of emotional/psychological abuse: verbal, and non-verbal abuse.

- Verbal Abuse includes:
➙ Intimidation through yelling or threats
➙ Humiliation 
➙ Habitual blaming 

- Non-verbal abuse includes: 
➙ Ignoring the senior citizen that would soon lead to self-neglect
➙ Isolating the elderly from friends or activities
➙ Terrorizing or intimidating the elderly

c. Sexual Abuse - This abuse happens when the caregiver touches the elderly without their consent. This involves physical acts, and activities such as showing an elderly person pornographic material, forcing them to watch acts or to undress without their approval.

d. Neglect/Abandonment of Caregivers - This kind of abuse can be intentional or unintentional, based on factors such as ignorance or denial that an elderly person needs as much care as they do. This is a lot more common than Financial Exploitation and Healthcare Abuse.

e. Financial Exploitation - This kind of abuse involves the unauthorized use of a senior citizen’s funds or property, either by a caregiver or an outside scam artist.

- An abusive caregiver might:
➙ Misuse an elderly person’s personal checks, credit cards, or accounts
➙ Steal cash, income checks, or household goods without their knowledge
➙ Engage in identity theft

- Typical financial scams or fraud that target elders include:
➙ Announcements of a “prize” that the elderly person has won but must pay money to claim
➙ Fake charities
➙ Investment fraud

f. Healthcare Abuse - this kind of abuse is more prominent in the nurse care home facilities where doctors and nurses would be there to care for senior citizens.

Some examples of this kind of abuse include:
➙ Not providing healthcare, but charging for it
➙ Overcharging or double-billing for medical care TV or services
➙ Getting kickbacks for referrals to other providers or for prescribing certain drugs
➙ Overmedicating or under medicating
➙ Recommending fraudulent remedies for illnesses or other medical conditions
➙ Medicaid fraud

There are consequences in regards to these after-effects involved with elder abuse: it may cause them to neglect their needs due to this kind of experience. However, the most common ones are the increased risk of premature death and post-traumatic stress disorder. The caregivers that caused elder abuse would be charged depending on how much they inflicted on the elderly person they were in charge of taking care of. These issues may not be as well-known and serious to most problems worldwide, but this is still an issue that should be addressed immediately.