25/08/2022
AN EXPERIENCE OF OUR TRAINEE ON AGE
CARE WHICH IS VERY LONG BUT WORTH READING.
EXPERIENCE WITH THE ELDERLY. THE BEAUTY THAT LIES IN THE WORLD OF A GERIATRIC AND GERONTOLOGY. 🤓.
On a faithful late afternoon, a perfect time for me to pay grandma Jam a visit it was. She has lived with her daughter and son in law alongside her grand children and other kids.
When I walked in, guess what and where the focus of the kids where, can you? Yes you got it, on the TV, and where is grand ma? In her room all alone. Briefly I called on the eldest son home at the time so we have brief discussion about grandma. He had very little knowledge about elderly care but was familiar with some of grandma's habits and likes but the question which stood out was "how often do you give grandma what she likes and when she needs it, how regular do you check on grandma, clean her environment, have discussions with her". I noticed this kids know fully well grandma likes to have discussions but as we all know, grandma doesn't "vibe" as they'll say to their type of fun. Grandma doesn't spend much time watching TV with them and her own conversations are not so. Much to their liking.
Here comes the moment of it all, my time with grandma.. Yessss, grandma is a full package, an entire Vibe/funny and amazing.
It should be noted I've visited grandma in time past but I have to be comfortable introducing myself to grandma everytime. Ageing is beautiful but it comes with a lot of challenges, memory lose is another challenge alongside decrease in vision, speech, agility and alot More.
When I opened grandma's room, (please always knock to signal some is at the door, they're about to have company so as to prevent them from being frighten) she was sited on her bed with feet on the ground and quiet. I greeted grandma and sat next to her.. Introducing myself all over again, I said I came to check up on her and get her response. "that's so kind of you, only the child of a real and true person can do something like this". This statement already tells you, she longs to have people coming to check her, she wants company and more. So granny ask how my family was and why I took long before coming to see her again 😂😅. I told grandma she is just shining alone, called her "Ngoin"( in Kom, meaning: damsel/young beautiful lady) but grandma refused and said oh no, she's old and I said, once a beautiful girl, always a beautiful girl 😂. Grandma laughed out so loud as much as she could.. I went further to comment on her smile while she laughed and I could see excitement, the feeling of being loved expressed in granny.. I refuted her version of being old and this I saw helped her in that, she doesn't feel left out.
Did you know there's a moment granny held the back of my head and looked at me, how lovely that was and I could just feel so special.. Just at her touch I could sense her communicating satisfaction. The touch of love and a gentle look at a grand child in the eyes😍😍.. I felt satisfied and I blushed off😀.
At this point, granny can tell me everything, she spends most of her time inside her room, she doesn't hear well, her eyes are disturbing her hence she makes way with low light intensity. At the time with granny, she had her window blind shifted to have just low bright light inside.
Granny doesn't move out often and the kids don't check in on her that often. Granny told her to come often hahahaha.
With the kids, they made it known, granny steps out occasionally to visit a neighbour but never stays out long, she doesn't watch the TV for long, she doesn't eat that often and she likes discussions.
Haven known granny's challenges what did I do?
I had a sit down with the kids present at the time to explain few points to them which will help granny upon implementation.
Check in on granny regularly, she needs attention as well and not advised to be left alone as that will cause her to feel left out and she may regret her ageing.
The kids were made to understand, granny isn't of their era and so, she is not a fan of the TV, she has challenges with vision and can't see very well, light disturbs her eyes so in the presence of granny, she needs light but at low brightness.
Granny needs to be checked often in case she needs anything it should be given to her than for her to try to pick up which she might fall in the process.
Ageing comes with lose in stability and agility hence granny's environment must be dry and clean.
Sound pollution : if not all, a vast majority of elderly people do not like noise so the kids have to regulate their sound from equipments to playing around the house.
Feeding: granny has a favourite meals, it should be made available often for her.
Go on walk: the children should occasionally take granny out for walks and thus helping her enjoy her last day.
The children understand granny needs their regular checkups for random discussions and gently play. They can hold her hand and just rob it, play with gently and that makes her satisfied.
Ageing is beautiful when you have people around you that treat you right.
I recommend everyone to take out to checkout on the elderly.
Geros or not, take time to train family member on both the physical, psychological, emotional, nutritional, health and social needs and importance to families of the elderly. You wouldn't want them to regret their old age. So until the families understand the needs of each elderly, only then will they treat them right.
We live at a time in which people are more connected while far away over phones than close by, but why you may ask? This is because, people are becoming more addicted to electronics such that, 3/4 of their attention is on. The times have passed people valued physical contacts yet this part of life can never be devalued. Families must learn to priorities family moments with their elderly putting away TV, Phones are more...
Granny lives with her daughter who is business oriented and runs her business, her husband is a as well a business man so every morning as they set out for work, granny is left at the mercy of the kids and these kids have their attention on TV during holidays, now what happens during school?? 🤔🤔.
This might be you in some time to come as you grow old. Take the decision today to make old age a beauty, sacrifice and build for it while you still can.
The Government will only come in when they see what you have done, forget about the government, these grandparents need you and I.
Your life priorities will determine your choice to carter for this elderly or not as much as how you want your old age to be treated.
Together, we can make Cameroon, Africa and the world great.0
My gratitude to Ageing and Health Academy for their relentless efforts to train and mentor Geros for today and tomorrow.
Zebedee Tufoin N
