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Aging

My essay was conducted on my observation of the elderly. I have observed a specific resident at a nearby facility, questioned and analyzed him and his opinions. The focus is his personal experiences and affects within the facility. As well as the how the care in the facilities relate to their emotions. We discussed the affects within the facility and with age. As well, we discussed life satisfaction, self esteem, and our own personal opinions.

The resident I interviewed requested that their true name not be revealed, but for writing purposes I have altered it to Mr. Adam Sparrow. Mr. Sparrow is a seventy-eight year old Caucasian male that is a resident of B.J.C. Nursing Home. He is and has always been of middle class status. He had served in the army during World War II. Although escaping the war with few injuries he was not prepared for the changes ahead. The dramatic change in his life his that he became an amputee of the legs, due to an accident that occurred several years ago. Though he has many other health issues this is the one that sticks out the most.

As a result of his health issues he has acquired a low self esteem. His low self esteem is based mainly on his limitations. One of the reasons he is in this facility is because he is limited to where he can go due to being in a motorized wheelchair. As he gets older his limitations increase, especially now that he is in a long-term care facility. To loose a limb affects your daily routines and abilities dramatically. With this you obviously can acquire low self esteem, low self worth, and depression. It affects people in many different ways. Mr. Sparrow states, "Not to be able to do everything that you are used to doing can be very difficult to deal with." Mr. Sparrow slowly disengages in daily activities such as social activity, eating, and personal maintenance. Mr. Sparrow said, "Life just isn't the same."

Independence is highly appreciated by everyone especially as you get older. Without independence you feel that you have no rights or say so in what happens in your life. Many long-term facilities do limit or take away a lot of your independence. Mr. Sparrow stated, "Could you imagine once in my life independence meant getting out of my parent's house or fighting for my country and now independence can only be described as daily decisions. What I mean is it is hard to be independent in a place where everyone is always in a hurry and just wants to do it all for you." Independence as you get older creates a kind of self worth. As he explained some of these independences are taken away even when they can really do it for themselves. With this he describes that he has little life satisfaction since he has been in this facility, due to less independence and increasing stress. Mr. Sparrow said, "For life to be satisfying you have to want to do for yourself and achieve goals, in here it's like a prison that holds you back from achieving what you set out to do. I don't mean to make it out to be an awful place, I am just use to something completely different. When we were young you was always expected to do for yourself that is how I was raised and I've been that way ever since so to step back and watch someone else do things for me that I should be able to do for myself is very difficult." He also explains that it makes him feel some what incompetent to make his own choices. He states," It's a blessing to make simple choices around this place."

What do you think it would be like to be old? I know I learned many things about the elderly and how things affect them by speaking with Mr. Sparrow. Some things that I learned are the condition in these facilities, their limitations, and their psychological views. I couldn't imagine not being able to be my own person or make my own decisions in life. But, for Mr. Sparrow he had no choice but to take the change head on. I could never describe how inspiring it was to sit down and speak with him. He had a lot to teach me about life and how to live it to the fullest. After listening to him I realized I needed to do just that, live life, because you never know what is going to happen.
Throughout my interview with Mr. Adam Sparrow I learned much about an elderly individuals' independence, rights, psychological views, self esteem, and their opinions. As well as how they relate to the care they are given and to what extent they are allowed to practice these things. These things affect the health, abilities, and emotions of the residents in these facilities. All of these things can cause a resident to be not as happy with their surroundings which is the cause of the previously stated conflicts.

Work Cited
Hacker, Diana. Rules for Writers. 5th Edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2004
Henslin, James M. Essentials of Sociology. 5th Edition. Boston: Library of
     Congress Cataloging-in-publication, 2004
Mr. Sparrow, Adam. Personal Interview. 23, January 2004

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