Our functions start declining such as visual impairment, cognitive changes, and reduction in strength and flexibility when we start growing old. And, when elderly drivers have a dementia the road would be really risky. Because, dementia is a large group of illnesses that cause a person to have difficulties with a range of functions so when a person has a dementia, they tend to have memory loss – don’t know the way to the shop, forget names and places, find it hard to remember what happened earlier on during the day-, moodiness – become more and more moody as parts of the brains that control emotion become damaged (frightened)-, communicative difficulties – finds it harder to write, read and talk-. They’re ability to carry out everyday task are harder for them, including driving. Elderly drivers are also more likely to have range of physical impairments that reduces their ability to drive.
Functionality Paper HCS/433 When confronted with the sentence, “Often a loss function will begin a downward spiral in life of an elderly person affecting their independence and quality of life.” Makes one think of how each system, such as physical activity, nutrition, and cognitive abilities are all interlinked and when one system begins to fail how it can affects ones independence. In the following I will list the different activities of daily living or ADL, how the loss of ADL affects independence, what health conditions affects ambulation that in turn can affect ones independence. As well as to describe to what length a person can help prolong the decrease of function that starts the downward spiral in elderly life. ADLs’ or activity of daily living is range of what a person can perform independently on a daily basis. This includes bathing, dressing, grooming, oral care, toileting, transferring, walking, climbing stairs, eating, shopping, cooking, managing medications, using the phone, housework, doing laundry, driving, and managing finances.
It has been said that it is not sufficient to simply provide facilities for elderly people they need to be taught how to use them in order to change fixed habits. Staying active is important for elderly people because too much disengagement would lead to mental and physical deterioration. Older people need to continue being social to avoid being completely isolated from society. Explain the physical and physiological changes which may be associated with ageing As we grow older changes take place within appearance and within the body. This is all linked through psychological changes and how the individual copes with elderly life.
For example, if a patient discovers they have a very short time to live, naturally they would be scared and anxious. At this point in time, patients want to decide the way their life will end; tiresome and excruciating or quick and pleasant. Patients may fear that they are a burden to their family, as in most situations, it is extremely expensive to go through treatment. If they are going to die anyways, is using a lot of money, especially if you are from a middle or lower-class family, really worth it? Furthermore, patients fear that they will soon come to a time when they are surviving but not really living.
Therapy will include exercises and stimulation that work to inhibit incorrect oral behaviors and strengthening of correct oral muscle functioning. The patient will need to spend 5-10 minutes a day performing recommended therapy. A multidisciplinary treatment is necessary to reach functional goals of swallowing, speech, and other esthetic factors. Team members could include an orthodontist, dental hygienist, orofacial mycology therapist, dentist and a speech pathologist. The target areas of therapy include: eliminating oral habits (chewing gums, digit sucking and/or nail biting), decrease of unnecessary tension and pressure in the facial muscles, building muscle strength in the functioning facial structures, establish normal resting positions of the tongue, jaw, and facial muscles, and development of normal biting, chewing, swallowing, and increasing awareness of mouth and facial muscles.
P4 Explain two theories of ageing When people gradually age, they begin getting affected by different life factors for example a loved one’s death or them developing an illness. How the individual is affected by these life factors depends on their attitude and beliefs. For example if the individual is a person with a positive outlook on life, he/she will maintain this attitude even if they are going through pain with having a serious illness. On the other hand someone who always is negative towards life will become depressed. Different theorists have different ideas on how people respond to ageing.
So many people want to be independent but this actually creates a problem, more seniors are relying on community facilities or retirement homes to assist them with their daily living. Another thing about seniors is that they want to stay in their homes but cannot be able to afford the mortgage or let along the up keep of a home. So a great number of seniors are having to turn to retirement homes or even assisted living facilities. I believe that another reason why the health care is facing this problem today is because a great number of family members do not have the patience to put up with their loved one so they send them to an assisted home or even a retirement center. Which is sad to me because an individual’s mom and dad raises them but when it comes to the time for them to take care of them they just ship them
Mental illness may lead to families becoming withdrawn and having problems dealing with the illness of the loved one, sometimes families are no longer committed to taking risks participating in the mentally ill family member’s life, as they are scared of being hurt even more. All this can have a devastating effect on a family, it could result in the family members trying to help the mentally ill person in ways that couldn’t possibly work (may differ between people). The family may try to move to a different area, in an effort to get a fresh start, which could be worse for the person, in the sense that what is normal and secure is going to be gone and that they would become more insecure. Obviously people are different and families have different ways of dealing with illness, so results between people may vary, but evidently someone without a mentally ill family member could not begin to realise the struggle some people go through in dealing with illness within a family and how much respect should be shown to those who do have to deal with mental
There is also the social exclusion side of the illness as well. They may feel like they no longer want to participate in their usual hobbies or going out socially with friends. They may also feel like they are a burden on people and chose to withdraw even more from society. “Dementia is progressive, which means the symptoms gradually get worse over time. How quickly dementia progresses vary greatly from person to person.” (Alzheimer`s Society, 2013 p.2.b.)
When daily demands of caring for adults, whether they are elderly, have a mental or physical illness, or have substance abuse problems, are thrust onto a carer who has not received the correct training for the job, they will become frustrated, angry, tired or worn down by the demands of the job and this can lead to abusive behaviours by the care giver. Without correct training care givers may be unaware of available resources and assistance, if they have no training for managing people with difficult behaviours they may use physical force, which may be unintentional but in many cases it may be deliberate. A caregiver may also be under stress because they are not getting enough support from colleagues, or working in poor conditions, or someone may simply be unsuited to be a caregiver, making the caregiver become burned out, impatient and unable to keep from lashing out at the person they are caring