Senior Moments

Oh elderly folk, how I adore ye.  

A little background on my interest in senior citizens-- apart from some geriatric medicine experiences during inpatient and outpatient rotations, I had not had a chance to really spend some quality time with senior citizens in a few years, and I missed it.  Before med school, I served as a companion for hospice patients and learned a great deal about how  hospice programs do such excellent work in holistically taking care of the multifaceted needs of dying patients and those who love them.  I also had the chance to work with an awesome grassroots org, Bridging Communities, where I assessed the needs of at-risk Detroit elders and connected them with resources to ensure basic needs were met and support services in place, allowing clients to age with dignity, surrounded by supportive community.

Which brings me to my most recent experience, volunteering at Luther Manor, a skilled nursing facility right down the street from where I used to live.  There is something so excellent about being connected to someone familiar with a past you've never personally known - to hear their perspectives on how things have changed, or stayed the same.  To bask in nostalgia over a cup of ice cream with 50s tunes filling our ears.  To do a twirl and a dance step from decades past.  With every set of fingernails I painted, every family photo album we paged through, each row of knitting/pearling that we took turns on, something special happened.  These simple activities allowed me to see a light in each resident I had the chance to get to know - their passions, values, heartaches...

It was not always fun and games.  No matter how excellent the care a facility offers, I expect that there is always going to be some element of suffering that permeates any "old folks' home".  Common themes that I noticed were expressing frustration of overwhelming physical ailments, reflecting on the pain of injustices endured from their past, and mourning lost independence in the face of isolation.  I think it's easy for younger, able-bodied people to think, it's for your own good that you're here; it's not safe for you to be home alone.  But we don't often acknowledge the trauma of being forced to leave one’s home due to inability to live independently, and having to live in an unfamiliar environment against their will.  It was good therapeutic practice to explore some of these feelings with residents, and to remind myself that this is a not uncommon sentiment that I should continue to be aware of as I care for nursing home residents in the future.