Taking Care of Our Elderly

My grandmother knows a lot about how it feels to be left in a house alone, waiting for someone to assist her to just get out of bed. This Saturday morning I decided to go visit her while my grandfather was at dialysis. She was surprised to hear my voice as she turned her head over my way and smiled. I could hear the sound of relief in her voice just knowing her granddaughter was here to see about her.

My grandmother has been blind since March 2012; she is a diabetic that has had an eye surgery to help repair a detached retina that is still healing. In the meanwhile she’s been dealing with paralysis on her right side from a stroke she suffered over twenty years ago, and it’s really taken a toll on her health. As I sat down beside her with a pen and paper I told her I wanted to get her point of view on how she feels about being an elderly person in this hard economy. I needed to know if they were able to cover all their needs on a fixed income. Did she really feel like her and my grandfather’s needs were really being met?

As she began to tell me about her fears Davis 2 And concerns my heart sunk and I thought to myself, have we really failed to live up to the obligations of taking care of our elders. As she spoke in her little sweet tone, she made me aware of how hard it is to do simple things like taking a shower, cooking and even going to the restroom is a hard task to do these days. She said “I feel like everyone is too busy to lend a hand, and me and your grandfather don’t want to be a burden on you all. ” I thought to myself as her granddaughter, was I even doing enough?

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Was the responsibility of taking care of our elderly been overlooked, or was it being passed down to the few faithful people who were getting burnt out on the responsibility? My grandparents as parents bared the moral, legal, and ethical responsibilities to care for their children. However, now that my grandparents have reached an age where they can no longer look after themselves, the duties of their adult children to support them is less clear. It is therefore only fair to say now that their children are grown up and now their parents have become elderly, they should take up the responsibility to provide a decent life for their parents.

While it is not a legal obligation, it is a moral obligation and it’s time to pay forward what is owed to our parents/grandparents. It’s our responsibility to help any family member in need. Our family has raised us and helped to survive in this uncertain economy, so why shouldn't we help out when our parents and grandparents reach an age where they need our assistance? Davis 3 Only one out of in five people takes the needed steps to prepare legally and financially for taking care of an incapacitated parent. Consider this contrast between expectations and reality: Only 13 percent of some 4,000 U.

S. workers surveyed for the 2011 (Aflac Work Forces Report) believe that the need for long-term care would affect their families. "The percentage of adult children providing personal care and/or financial assistance to a parent has more than tripled over the past 15 years," the research group found. Of course, in today's tough economy, it also is common for elderly adults to be supporting their adult children. But in some ways, that's easier to accept: Parents often plan to leave whatever wealth they have to their children anyway.

The flow of wealth from older to younger generation feels natural to many. But with Americans living so much longer now, the younger generation has to do more thinking about how they might care for parents who have exhausted their savings. After spending the whole day talking with my grandparents about their concerns I felt compelled to lend a hand. I made lunch for them and started to clean the kitchen. By the end of the day the whole house was spotless, and before I left I help my grandfather get my grandmother ready for bed.

I have to say I was really exhausted when I finished, but the feeling I felt when I saw them smiling and relaxing together was worth a million bucks. As soon as I got home that night, I was determined that I had to help with this situation right away. The first thing to do was to call a family meeting. It was time for everyone to pull Davis 4 together and take up their responsibility to do their part. First thing we needed to do is put together a schedule and set it in stone. We all agreed that we would be assigned a day to go and check on our grandparents/parents.

This action plan would include cooking, cleaning and donating at least a hundred dollars a month to help with their financial needs. So far this is working out great, and all it took was a concerned person to be a good listener and someone to pull a family together to put a plan in action. By working together as a family it helped to mend broken relationships and it helped us to accomplished many beautiful things. I’m happy to say my grandparents are well taken care now, and years have been added to their life p.

References

1. Http://www. aflac.com/Aflac_WorkForces_Report 2011

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