Recently in one of my classes we were discussing the elderly and how different cultures care for them, or fail to in some cases. It is a topic that really gets to me because it amazes me to see the lack of respect and compassion, some people show toward our elderly. Elderly care, has been a hot topic in recent years, nursing home vs. home care.
I fail to understand how people today think it is okay to shove our elderly away, to be visited once a month, and forgotten the rest of the time. These are people who dedicated the best years of their life to provide for us, care for us, and make us into productive human beings. Yet when they reach old age instead of providing and supporting them, and showing appreciation for what they did for us, we are brushing them aside, as if they were disposable.
People today rationalize their behavior, by asserting that the fast paced society that we live in does not allow the time needed to care for the elderly. People are busy with their own families, their careers, that the elderly become an afterthought. It’s inconceivable to think that we are so self-involved as to not realize the value our parents and grandparents have in their old age.
Working in an ER, has opened my eyes to several things, one of them being the atrocities our elderly suffer at the hands of nursing homes. I’ve seen folks come in having sat in their filth for hours or even days, with bedsores and developing infections, alone and depressed, living their last days within the confines of four walls and among people they don’t know.
On the other hand, I have seen the elderly taken care of by family. They still live a productive life, surrounded by the people that love them. Their opinions matter, their advice is still received. When they pass, they will do so surrounded by people that love them, and not alone in an unknown place far removed from the warmth and comfort of family.
*Image borrowed from Senior Women's Health
For those who put their parents in nursing I say think about yourself. Do you want your children to put you in nursing home when you are old and disabled? Or you want to live in the family and enjoy life with your children and grandchildren? Main reason why people have children is they hope that someone will take care of them when they get old and disabled. And do not forget that children learn from what parents do, not from what parents say. If someone sends his parents to the nursing home he or she may be sure that some day their children will do the same. Children will say, "My dad put my grandpa to the nursing, so I will do the same to him".
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother lived 104 years, she had 5 children. All her children and grandchildren loved her. Every day she had someone visiting her. And I hope to live as long as she did, and live in loving family.
I have to say that I was disgusted when I listened to some of my classmates talk about the elderly too! TOo think that people can be so cruel and cold towards their own family, is just shocking. My skin was actually crawling while these people were saying how they "have a life" and taking care of their parents would be a burden. Ugh!! Really? I would have given anything to still have my grandparents around, and to have met them all. But the few times I did spend with them (they lived in Mexico)I remember very fondly. It's so sad to hear that people (family or health care providers)would treat another human being like that. We have so much to thank them and learn from them, I just don't understand... :(
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