Age 65 You Have a Disease!
Ageism, how it affects senior health & caregivers

Age 65: you have a disease! The assumption is age causes decline when in fact illness is more often the cause. Ageism also causes complacency in healthcare and affects the quality of care. Ageism is a serious issue that is perpetuated by our healthcare system, institutions and society in general. According to the International Longevity Center:

60 percent of victims identified from Hurricane Katrina were age 61 or older.
Within 24 hours following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, animal advocates were on the scene rescuing pets, yet older and disabled people were abandoned in their apartments for up to seven days before ad hoc medical teams arrived to rescue them.

35% of doctors erroneously consider an increase in blood pressure to be a normal process of aging

Only 10 percent of people aged 65 and over receive appropriate screening tests for bone density, colorectal and prostate cancer, and glaucoma. This despite the fact that the average age of colorectal cancer patients is 70, more than 70 percent of prostate cancer is diagnosed in men over 65, and people over 60 are six times more likely to suffer from glaucoma.

Ageism has a serious affect on the lives of our seniors and caregivers. Most seniors have chronic (long term) conditions not acute (short term) conditions. Those you may look to for advice have little or no training on the aging process (like social workers and doctors). There are services and new innovative tools using universal design available that can help the caregiver and those they care for. Your biggest obstacle may be Ageism and lack of knowledge by those in healthcare. It’s important to get past all of this so lives can improve with less stress and injuries.

How would it make you feel if you were told to go out in public with some ugly, sterile tool? Or have unattractive things around your home. Those in healthcare are not sensitive to the physical or physiological effects of what they do. Nor the risks associated with the tools they recommend. Seniors and caregivers are recommended and sold products that have known risks and are unsafe. Many times our seniors blame themselves for injuries that are not their fault. This is another part of Ageism that affects the health and welfare of our seniors and caregivers.

How many people know that “falls from bed are the 2nd leading cause of fall deaths”? How many healthcare professionals know about, or let alone understand a critical issue like this. A fall from bed is different then falling out of bed. How many caregivers are “human grab bars” and get injured as a result. How many people get injured having someone help them out of bed? How many caregivers and home care staff get injured because inappropriate products are recommended? If, those in healthcare are unwilling to learn new information then caregivers will continue to be affected by problems that can be prevented. In home or long distance caregivers are affected in different ways. The mindset must change from “after something has happened” towards prevention.

Caregivers will play the major role! You can prevent a fall from bed and you can prevent falls. A lack of knowledge about appropriate tools or using tools that have known risks (such as side rails) will continue to perpetuate the problem.
We need to stop saying “I don’t need that yet” and start saying “I see how I can benefit”. When you need it, it may be too late! If you can benefit now, you may be able to prevent the “need” scenario later.

Do you know what GOMER means: Get Out of My Emergency Room
Doesn’t that make you feel warm and fuzzy! This is one of the names ER staff has for seniors. Yet, the same misinformed people are out there recommending products with known risks or have no clue what the major risks are. Then a senior gets injured and they get called names while in the ER or hospital. What part of this makes sense?

At what age do we deserve to lose our dignity? What age do we deserve to be treated like those providing care live in our bodies and not us. No one wants to get old or disabled. We typically do what we can to help children overcome fear and gain self-worth. Insensitivity for the elderly or for all of the wonderful caregivers takes away from all the positive and good. We must stand up for ourselves and ask questions, you have the right to answers and proper care with respect.

A couple of years before my father died he fell off a ladder trimming the fruit trees. My father was 79, a cowboy, incredibly fit and out with his horses everyday. He never fell, never! Looking back that fall was a sign a big fat SIGN. I wish I knew what I know now. It was the beginning of the end. He died of lung cancer April 2004. In his case he was going to the doctor for more then a year before he was diagnosed. No one took an x-ray of a 81 year old former smoker. He was getting drugs and pretty poor reasons for the odd things he had going on. I almost had to force him to get a massage for what he thought was a sore back. The therapist had him go to a chiropractor. They took an x-ray because he would not stay in adjustment. They found a couple of ribs partially gone and a tangerine size tumor. Ageism? You bet.

Do you want to use the same tools you did as a child? Probably not plus it would not be safe. We need to use tools that are appropriate for our age or disability to compensate just like we did as a child. Unfortunately, in areas that are critical to maintaining our independence, health and safety there has not been a lot of choice but there is a lot of misinformation that put someone in danger. Who is affected by this? Caregivers, friends and the individual.

Probably the most critical area is our home because this is where we want to be. How do we stay there? Avoiding ageism and it’s fallout would be a good start. Don’t let someone feel they are a burden encourage them and help them feel normal. Work with people that foster this idea as well. Don’t always accept that a prescription or other treatment is the only answer because we know many times it can do more harm then good. Ask probing questions. Be part of the process, no one lives in another’s body!

Foster activity and make sure the environment is conducive to their needs. We make such a fuss with kids to keep them out of harms way. Now we need to do this for our older population to keep them safe at home. Falls are one of the main reasons for emergency room visits, nursing home admissions and death among the elderly. Fall prevention is a safety issue and more importantly a quality of life issue. Most of all it can be a matter of life and death. Let’s get falls, poor quality healthcare and other issues out in the open so we can save lives and help a broken system. There are snappy new products that deal with critical issues like: balancing at the edge of bed instead of using barriers you must work around and are unstable. Barriers cause falls! Appropriate tools can help you avoid ageism and the negative that goes with it.

Invisible CareGiver Innovations, LLC. We innovate “Dignified Tools for Aging in Place”. Please visit our web site at www.invisiblecaregiver.com home of the Outta BedTM a multi-functional bed mobility tool to assist the caregiver and those that can benefit from bed mobility without barriers (restraints).
 

Patrece Banks, CEO
Invisible Caregiver Innovations, LLC
425-283-4321
www.invisiblecaregiver.com

This article was sponsored by Invisible Caregiver Innovations, LLC