Aging in Society

Exam 2 * Question 6 * The Sandwich Generation is where many caregivers are taking care of an elderly parent, while at the same time caring for their own children, and sometimes holding down a full-time job. As a concerned social worker the suggestion of better social support assistance I would suggest is a certified nurse that stays with the elder person to help with mobility as well as actual personal needs if needed. The nurse would have to stay for at least a half a day whether it is the beginning of the day or the end of the day. Most elders require home care rather than home health care, so obtaining home care would be my focus.Obtaining home care can be tricky but the suggestions for my ideas would be as followed so that this person could receive the best possible results that require the most attention. Me being the social worker would have to determine the needs of the elder person, interview and selecting caregivers, create a written contract to insure the following care is provided, following a activity log, Supervision, communication and problem-solving, social security and insurance coverage. For many, the use of long term care has minor financial impacts.For others, the impact of long term care use can be catastrophic. It can cause the depletion of lifetime savings, dramatically reduce one's standard of living, or force someone to purchase less care than they need. Economic considerations also sometimes force people to enter a nursing home even though they would rather be home, just because it is easier to qualify for Medicaid coverage in a nursing home than at home. * In the world of the elderly, ethical issues have an even greater significance because they usually involve an elder who is likely to be more vulnerable that the average adult.For that reason, in many ways the elderly are taken advantage of by people in whom they have misplaced their trust. For the elderly, ethics is about how they want to be treated and allowed to make their own deci sions. For family members as caregivers, ethics is about doing what is right even when no one is looking. The financial effects of long term care use are different and vary according to the type of services used such as the extended time of care, and the level of financial resources available to pay for care.Depending on the interaction of these variables a individual's long term care use can have little or no impact, very small impact, or a horrible consequences * Question 7 Whether we want to or not, each of us will die someday. And with every year we only get older and as we get older there will be more and more problems with health. As you get older if I were a healthcare professional I would insist that at whenever there is a moment something does not feel right or there is pain. That person should contact their doctor and make an appointment, only because the situation will only get worse.Many elderly, because they have been dealing with a life threatening illness, will know t hat â€Å"the end† is coming. Helping patients and their families in their adjustment to the reality of a person about to die or one with an acute illness is an important part of planning ahead and to begin if they have not to change their living arrangements. I don’t think it would be good for an elderly person to live alone. But some elderly persons are stubborn and choose not to have help. This could hinder them if they had been having very bad pain or felt something was wrong and never got it checked out.The situation could get worse and the possibility of someone not getting to that person in time. Measures to help the elderly in the aging in place would be to send a nurse to go maybe three days a week for a couple of hours every day. These workers would try to counsel and educate patients and their families during the patient’s illness or aging so that all the family is on the same page. This would allow patients to be a bit more at peace and have some dig nity with the presence and support of their families.Because the care of the patient is provided at home, often with the involvement of family members, home care is less expensive than care in a hospital or skilled nursing facility. Medicare covers many of the direct patient services provided in a home care setting, including durable medical equipment, pharmaceutical costs and medical care provided by physicians, nurses, therapists, home health aides, chaplains and social workers. Persons receiving Medicare should look for a Medicare-certified home care programs. Question 8I think hiring contingency workers is a good thing because maybe if a permanent worker took off for a week the temporary worker could fill in. It also depends on the company, if their under staffed and absolutely need the job done hiring a temp would benefit. The downfall would be if they need something strenuously done that only the permanent worker can perform, it might take too much time to teach the things tha t need to be done to the temp worker. I believe if the temp does a good job this could possibly give that person a opportunity of employment.Temps typically are the first to return to the workplace after a downturn because employers uncertain about the pace of recovery can release them at the slightest hint of economic weakness without major legal or financial consequences. Desperate job-seekers may prefer temporary work to no work at all, and temporary jobs can turn into permanent positions. The advantages of a permanent worker are steady income, health insurance, paid vacations, dental insurance, paid vacations, 401 k plan, personal days and sick days.The disadvantages for contingency worker is lower pay, costly health care, no invitation to formal events for the company, no sick days, no paid vacation, no pay on holidays, no job security and no retirement savings The economic consequences can be significant. The prevalence of temporary workers can keep a lid on wages for everyone . Since they often don’t get benefits and can’t depend on their positions to last very long, temporary workers may be less willing to spend money, creating a drag on the recovery. A less stable workforce further exaggerates the divide between the haves and the have-nots.