Saturday, April 17, 2010

Let Me Introduce Myself! Elise

Hello Ithaca College Gerontology Friends! I'm excited to be the newest blogger on the Field of Aging Blogspot. :-)

My name is Elise Ruckert. I am a physical therapist who graduated from Ithaca College in 2006 with my DPT and a double-minor in Gerontology and Integrative Health Studies. As a PT, every day I am reminded why I chose to concentrate part of my education on aging studies: older adults are huge consumers of health care. Unfortunately, there are a lot of health care practitioners out there today who do not have a strong understanding of how much we can improve the function of older adults. For example, falls are often attributed to weakness and immobility from "old age"-- with little thought on prevention. There is so much we can do to help older adults continue their involvement with or get back into the activities they love at home and in the community!

I work on the Spinal Cord Injury Service at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehab Center in Los Angeles, CA. Here, I work with individuals of all ages-- young, middle-aged, and older adults. People arrive at our hospital with injuries from a variety of causes: motor vehicle accidents, sports injuries, falls, violence, and disease (among others). Most of the older adults I see have sustained spinal injuries due to falls or degenerative conditions (such as spinal stenosis). Every patient is unique, and I am grateful for an ever-changing and dynamic work environment. It keeps me on my toes!

My goal for participating in this blog is:
  • For you to consider the benefits of having a foundation in gerontology studies as a new health care clinician.
  • For you to understand the influence of an aging society on current physical therapy practice and research.
  • To expose you to the role of PT in improving quality of life for older adults with different health conditions (ex: cerebrovascular disease, diabetes, Parkinson's Disease, etc.).

If you have specific questions or comments, feel free to pass them along. I'll look forward to hearing from you and sharing my experiences with you!

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Adapting to Changes (Joanna)

After working over two years for Atria Senior Living Group, I have observed and realized that older adults who use a cane or walker very often run into the problem of forgetting their cane or walker. They might leave it in a room after a specific activity, or forget altogether to bring their cane or walker from their apartment with them to other common areas in the building. Some of these older adults have dementia (which can contribute to their forgetfulness about this), but not all of them have dementia as their “excuse.” I have realized that having to use a cane or walker is comparable to getting glasses. After all, when any person gets glasses for the first time, they must adjust and adapt their mind, body, and lifestyle to this change. I'm a little far-sighted, and I remember having my own moments where I would forget to wear my glasses. I would be dressed and ready to drive to work, turn my car on, look out my windshield, and then wonder for a second or two why I couldn't see something clearly in the far distance. Then surely enough, I'll remember that my eyes are not what they used to be, and that I need my glasses! After all, I have lived the majority of my life without any glasses, right? We are creatures of habit. Then, when I started to wear contacts, I had experiences where I completely forgot I was wearing them! I accidentally went to bed at night still wearing my contacts, and discovered this when I woke up the next morning with very dry uncomfortable contacts and irritated eyes! Again, I had been accustomed to not using any kind of visual aid for most of my life. Similarly, older adults may forget their cane or walker, just as I forgot to wear my glasses (or forgot to take out my contacts), since they have lived the majority of their life (70, 80, 90+ years) without the assistance of a walker or cane. It does take time to adapt to changes like this, and sometimes also requires developing new routines.

Another thing my residents have taught me is that if you have some type of handicap, you can still do many things, although you might have to do them differently. For example, one of my residents with a vision handicap told me how it started to become difficult for her to put toothpaste onto her toothbrush. So, she started to just squirt some toothpaste into her mouth, and continue with brushing her teeth in this way. Of course she doesn't share her tube of toothpaste with others! Therefore, being creative in discovering simple ways to adapt a particular routine (such as tooth brushing), can be very helpful for some older adults to remain independent instead of struggling, getting frustrated, and experiencing another loss. (The majority of people without vision problems wouldn't ever think to do this, even though there's really nothing wrong about it, especially if you live by yourself or use your own personal tube of toothpaste.)



Thursday, April 1, 2010

Listen & You will Learn! (Joanna)

Listen to seniors and I guarantee that you will learn oodles of interesting things. Throughout each day, I take the time to listen to my residents (as well as observe them). I like to hear their stories, jokes, ideas, fears, questions, and opinions. Each resident is just filled (actually overflowing) with so many years of memories and history. It's pretty fascinating stuff...

For example, there's several residents in my building that have macular degeneration, a medical condition where the retina is damaged and causes loss of vision in the center of the visual field. I used to not know too much about macular degeneration and how it affects older adults, everyday life. One female resident taught me that she can no longer recognize faces, but can still recognize people by how they walk, talk, laugh, or by their hair color/length/etc. Interestingly, one's peripheral vision is not affected by macular degeneration, which is why she will not become completely blind. Despite her vision handicap, this same female resident is always smiling, socializing, and optimistic. I had a recent conversation with her in the dining room about her vision condition and she started to tell me how she's really starting to enjoy her new visual world--how she manages to see the positive and beauty with her vision loss. Smiling, she pointed to the banisters of the large staircase in the dining room, and told me that all those vertical supports dance around whenever she moves her head! How cool is that?! Definitely unique. Whereas some people with macular degeneration would interpret this as a scary or negative visual experience, she simply learned how to enjoy and make the best of it. She could easily let her visual handicap make her isolated and depressed; however, she chooses the exact opposite and shares her perspectives with others. Meanwhile, I'm listening to this resident and just trying to imagine her visual experience to the best of my ability. It would be a challenging, yet creative project to attempt to have this resident help someone else draw/paint/photograph/video what the world looks like through her eyes...because it is like an art. One thing is definitely true though: Seeing the positive in things (such as handicaps) and being optimistic can do so much for your quality of life....if you have these two qualities, you really have it all.