Administration and Protection of Elder People
Introduction
All over the world, a larger number of older adults are facing challenges such as poverty, discrimination, and abuse that diminish their human rights and their overall impact on the community. Older people are entitled to be treated like other people in the community. Elder abuse has posed a significant problem to the world. Elder abuse is widespread, and it is affecting everyone in the community. Elder people are abused in public services, during civil participation and also in economic resources. Statistics shows that each year majority of older adults are abused, and their case goes unreported due to lack of social supports which makes the reporting easier. Taking care of the elder person who once cared for you is viewed as the greatest honour. Members of the family together with relatives and friends should come together to help and assist the older person. The older adults are assisted and helped with various tasks such as giving medication, bathing, feeding them, and dressing (Moody & Sasser, 2015).
The family members can also act as care gives to the older member by providing them with essential care. Family members also offer care and support such as advocacy which is necessary especially for older people who have mental health sickness, disabilities and those staying in nursing homes. Older people prefer spending time with their families compared to other people. Social support from family and friends lowers stress and boost their well-being thus improving their lives. The government should be on the front line in helping and assisting the older people. The government should ensure that’s the rights of older people are not abused, neglected or exploited through enforcing laws (Schulz, Eden, & National Academies of Sciences, 2016).
Hospitals and community services organizations face a great problem when encountered and addressing the care of incapable older people who have no family members or friends who can be involved in the decision making of the patient .These older people are the most helpless because no one cares about their well-being or whether they will survive or not. In America there are bodies such as the America association commission that outlines and directs the need for doctors to make major decisions on behalf of the older people. The wishes of patient can only be considered if he or she has understood the whole process of the treatment such as potential risks and purpose. Therefore doctors can only disclose information to elderly people who can make a knowledgeable decision about the treatment. Under state law, if the patient cannot make such decisions, the doctors in charge are supposed to take over and make those decisions on behalf of their patients (Tànfani &Testi, 2012).
Elder abuse involves different types of behaviours which can be classified in different ways. This act of abuse can either be intentional or unintentional where different types of behaviours can be involved. Whether an act is abusive depends on whether the case is abusive or omission. Physical abuse involves an elder person being inflicted with physical pain, injury, and discomfort. Such behaviours include rape, hitting, beating and hitting. Elderly people face financial or property abuse, where there is the misuse of their money. For example, stealing money, forging of signatures on bank cheques and documents, tricking and forcing an older person to sell his or her land or giving out their properties out and misuse of attorney power. Older people are neglected where the caregivers fail to provides needs to the older person of whom the older person is unable to meet the needs. Such behaviours include failing to provide the older person with clothes, food and water, medication, nursing services and therapy (Hindle & Coates, 2011). Older people also suffer from psychological and emotional abuse which weakens their identity and self-worth of a person. Such behaviours include yelling, threatening to insult, swearing and showing ignorance. Elder people face abandonment this occurs when the person who has the responsibilities of taking care of them fails to do so. Self- neglect occurs when the person fails to take care of him or herself thus threatening his or her well-being.
Elder law services are legal practices that specialize in matters that are affecting the aging group. Elder law services ensure that older people are not neglected in the nursing home and that they are taken good care of. The role of advocacy is to give guidelines and offer assistance to elderly people by representing their wishes. They act in the interest of older people by promoting and ensuring that they are enjoying their rights and opportunities in the society. The advocacy assists the older adults by helping them to act for themselves, giving support to families or caregivers who act on behalf of the older person. There are several services which are available in assisting the older people (Ash, 2014). These advocacy services are available to the person from age 65 and above and to any person who is disabled and unable to meet his or her needs between the age of 18to 64.The departments concerned with elderly matters are supposed to implement services that protect individuals over 60 years by ensuring they will be able to access health services.
The administration of facility protects older human rights by safeguarding their rights and providing services needed. They also ensure that there not abused by creating programs which offer protective services and educating the public on the availability of the services and creating awareness of the older abuse. These administrators are required by the law to mandatory report any abuse case and the staffs are required by the law to report abuse case immediately to the local agencies which deals with aging issues. If the abuse involves sexual assault, injuries or death the matter should be reported to the aging department and local law enforcement (Doron & Soden, 2012)
In conclusion, the risk of elder people can be reduced by putting systems in place that prevents the abuse. Also, the government should allocate funds which will be used to offer training on the matters of detecting and preventing the abuse. Effects of harmful ageism in elder people can be reduced by identifying ways of empowering them such as senior centres. Awareness of elder abuse should be created so that the members of the community can recognize it and its warning. This will help the people to report elder abuse cases to the authority and stop it before it takes place. Due to changes in lifestyle caring of an elderly person cannot be left in the hands of the immediate family; it has to be responsibilities of friends, government, non-government organizations and private institutions.
References
Ash, A. (2014). Safeguarding older people from abuse: Critical contexts to policy and practice.
Doron, I., & Soden, A. (2012). Beyond elder law: New directions in law and aging. New York: Springer.
Hindle, A., & Coates, A. (2011). Nursing care of older people. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
In Schulz, R., In Eden, J., & National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (U.S.). (2016). Families caring for an aging America.
Moody, H. R., & Sasser, J. R. (2015). Aging: Concepts and controversies.
Tànfani, E., & Testi, A. (2012). Advanced decision making methods applied to health care. Milan: Springer.
