Notes from a Former Geriatric Home-Healthcare Aide

Whether you have thoughts of becoming a geriatric home healthcare aide, or if your contacts with the elderly are your own relatives, there are some key points which will help to make it a good experience for both you and for them.

As these days fewer people are inclined to place their elderly family members in longterm-care facilities unless they have health problems which make it necessary, and more elderly people are preferring to remain in their own homes whenever possible, these can be considered very positive; however, what is not is some younger people's tendencies to think of elderly people as boring or nuisances-- for nothing could be further from the truth!

The most important factor to keep in mind is that people who have lived eighty, ninety, or even more years, have many decades of living behind them. Not only does this mean they are deserving of respect, but also to be treated in a manner which grants them the chance for their older years to be lived with the same basic human dignity that most younger people take for granted. Having lived eighty or more years means that each of these folks has a story to tell-- and what benefits them the most is for younger folks to simply "shut up and listen." Most elderly folks love to talk about their lives; and from this you can learn very much-- first, about their growing-up experiences, their families and schools and neighborhoods, all of those experiences which made up those eighty-or-more years. But also there is much to learn from the elderly about the values upon which those lives were formed and lived. And if you give such a person your "ear, with a heart attached to it," you will soon see that there is nothing 'boring' about either the person or his or her life's stories.

Another factor which many younger people do not readily understand about the elderly is that those upon whom aging and health conditions have begun to take a toll often have difficulty with their new limitations. Most will become frustrated at no longer being able to do all of the things they used to be able to do, and even more frustrated when this comes to mean needing to accept help from others. What younger people make the mistake of dismissing as "cantankerous" or "difficult" is usually just a matter of elderly folks finding it hard to come to terms with no longer having the ability to be active or to do everything for themselves; and because of this they also express resentment toward their family members or healthcare aides who are in the position of assisting them. Encouraging the elderly to do what they can for themselves is important; but understanding, and having an understanding attitude, toward the reasons why most do not take well to limitations on their abilities and need for help is equally important.

All in all, the main difference is that elderly folks have been around much longer than the rest of us; but this fact should be seen as reason for a positive attitude and appreciation for these individuals.