Post Author: Frances Shani Parker

Changing older adult stereotypes through children and nursing homes

Patient
March 14, 2012

“What’s considered a sexual risk for an old person? Not wearing a   diaper?”

“How about old people just stop having sex?”

These comments from an Internet social media “discussion” group on older adult AIDS prevention reflect blatant eldercare bias. They are just more of many examples of negative stereotypes about them that are embedded in our society. Not only do they affect older adults who are currently victimized by them, they also …

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How I became a hospice volunteer

Patient
January 16, 2012

People often ask me how I became a hospice volunteer. For the record, nobody is more surprised than I am. You know how some people can walk into a patient’s room, plump pillows, and make all the right comments? Years ago, I was not that person. I never really felt comfortable visiting sick people. Working in the healthcare arena seemed depressing. Besides, I had made a conscious decision to become …

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Hold funerals for unclaimed dead bodies

Patient
August 29, 2011

Rest in peace. These words are a common theme at funerals honoring loved ones. But many people die with no one claiming their bodies. For example, at hospitals there are unclaimed bodies of patients and the unborn. Corpses are found abandoned often in police cases. Mortal remains can go unclaimed due to insufficient funds for burial or cremation, insufficient concern for the deceased, and lack of available or known family …

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Bullies in older adult communities

Patient
August 4, 2011

Bullies are terrorizing residents in long-term care and assisted living facilities, senior centers, and retirement communities around the country. The first time I witnessed older adults bullying others was at a senior center where, after a great deal of resistance from members, the age for joining the center had finally been lowered from 62 to 55 years old. Most local senior centers had already lowered their membership age years …

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