Health Challenges Faced by Older Adults
By: Akua Koranteng
Course: SCI/100
January 11, 2015
University of Phoenix
Instructor: Roxann Leraci
Introduction
• Challenges Between Age and Gender
• Level of Challenges
• Neglect and Abuse
• Prevention
• Resources
Challenges between the genders
and at what age.
There are various challenges that affect the elderly in our society and it varies based on gender and also the age. These challenges are broken down in gender and age Male over 65
Female over 60
Neurological
• Alzheimer
• Parkinson disease
Hormonal
• Menopause
• Thyroid dysfunction
Prostate disease
• Prostate Cancer
Musculoskeletal
• Osteoporosis
Liver Disease
• Cirrhosis of the liver
Cancer
• Breast Cancer
• Ovarian Cancer
Level of Challenges
In the home
Pressure on family:
•
Taking care of an adult with health concerns can put
In the Community
Housing Challenges
•
Most local communities struggle with providing
housing for the aged. Lack of long term facilities to
the family under intense pressure. Some of these
in the communities to make sure they are well taken
difficulties could be financial, time consuming and
care of.
stressful.
Federal Level
Local / State Level
Cost of healthcare
Federal Healthcare benefits:
•
•
Caring for the aged with health related issues can
Most of the federal budget is earmarked for federal
put financial burden on the state for the cost of their
healthcare benefit for the aged. The more the aged
health care.
population increases, the higher the cost.
Are older Adults abused? If so how?
Neglect or abandonment
Physical Abuse
Sexual Abuse
Financial Exploitation
Prevention of Abuse
Most of these abuse can be prevented by:
•
Listening to the elderly when they complain about abuse
•
Intervention is a key. We have to intervene whenever there is a abuse
•
Education other how to detect and recognize abuse of the aged
Programs to help educate victims of Abuse
Make resources available to educate the elderly on how to report being abused
There should be a toll free number so victims can call to report abuse
Offer free counselling to victims of abuse
Offer free legal assistance to victims
Create more support groups to educate victims
Conclusion
There are many challenges that our our elderly generation faces in our society. We need to put safeguard in place to help minimize the effects of these challenges. More resources should be available to help educate families, healthcare workers and society on elderly abuse. How we address these numerous challenges facing our elderly in the home, state, community, and federal level are very important in building a stronger community.
Conventional Medicine and CAM
Conventional
Verses
CAM
Medical Drugs
Herbal Medicine
Surgery
Acupuncture
Physical Therapy
Holistic Approach
Factors that contribute to Violence in the
home
Alcohol abuse
People who abuse alcohol are prone to inciting violence.
Drugs abuse:
People who are on illegal drugs tend to incite violence
Mental:
Mental patient or people with history of mental illness or prone to violence in the home
Indoor air pollutants and your
Type of Air Pollutants
Ways to Prevent it:
health
Secondhand smoking
No smoking indoors
Carbon monoxide exposure
Install Carbon monoxide and
Gas leakages
Dirty air filters
smoke detectors
Changes of Carbon monoxide
detectors regularly
Air filters must be changed
regularly
.
Reference
World Health Organization. (2013). Mental health and Older Adults. Retrieved from: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs381/en /
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