Age is the great equalizer

On the same memory unit at your local nursing home you will find a caucasion man who was once quite wealthy but used up his money with private care to stay in his home, and then refined assisted living. He might be seated at the dining table next to another caucasion man who has been homeless for the last 40 years except when in and out of drug rehab programs. Also in the room is a black man who used to play dancing gigs over a five state area. There were some clubs where his band was not allowed to play, but he once played for the governor at the governor’s mansion. The fourth is a Hispanic gentleman who served his country in the military during the Korean War. At another table sits a woman who never missed a day of church before nursing home placement and even now does not a miss a chance to hear a good preaching. At her table sits a woman who once lived with her best friend, another woman. While both of them sold their bodies on the street, they found sincere love in each other’s arms. The third lady at the table is a retired school teacher. Each has seen good times and bad. Each eats the same pureed food and thickened juice. Their long term care is paid from different source, a pension, VA benefits, Social Security/Disability, all supplemented with Medicaid. Each has $60 spending money piling up to threaten their future Medicaid with the exception of the one who continues to smoke. They have forgotten their pride, they have forgotten their prejudices. They suffer in silence for the most part. From time to time you might catch a tear welling up as they remember the loved ones who have passed away or passed them on. Age plays no favorites.

Geriatric Education for all in Health Care

Geriatric medical care is similar to pediatric medical care in that the rules of thumb that work for the rest of population do not fit. The patient's issues are more complex and demand specialized understanding. When caring for my mother, steadily declining with Alzheimer’s and other issues common to aging, we met several instances of medical professionals who failed to get geriatric training. When her knee was in great pain, an orthopedist responded, “What do you expect at your age?” Then he told of his army days - how men with far worse pain walked through it. She felt defeated, shamed, and without hope for her joint issue. Then in her last days, when switching pain medications, her dosage was miscalculated and she was overdosed. Older patients commonly need lower dosages for similar effects. Hearing her symptoms, the on-call nurse told us to just give her more morphine for comfort. She recovered by withholding the morphine, working with her, then later starting it with a smaller dosage. Now I care for my father, who has another type of dementia. We visited a psychoneurologist who showed him his CAT scan and told him, "See, you have holes in your head; I will be talking to your daughter instead of you." The failure to provide dignity to this man was a failure of the system to provide geriatric training to its medical professionals. The elderly are quickly becoming a larger and larger percentage of the population. All medical professionals will increasingly have more patients in the older adult range. Please contact your representatives and ask them to make geriatric training a routine part of a medical professional’s education and required for continued certification.

Mother always said,

"Getting old is tedious." I agree, but there are some good points as well.