Late Adulthood Paper Essay

People over the age of 65 have gone through a life of changes. He or she starts off as a young baby. He or she then develops into a growing child. into a young individual, and finally into a full adult. Now however is the hardest stage of any older individual’s life, they start to realize that time is limited and their life is slowly starting to decline and come to an end. This experience can be very frightening to the individual because the elderly person is noticing different changes and the rise of different needs. Changes not only physically but socially are occurring, the need for proper living accommodations, and health care are their new worries. With this being said there are many challenges not only for the aging individual but for the whole family as well. One of the social changes that elderly have to deal with is the changes in role and social position. Individuals who have lived a long life tend to have a social status that is often taken away when they retire. This is due to the fact that the individual is no longer in the environment he or she is used to. To make this clearer one example would be someone who has worked for a company for thirty plus years. In these years the individual most likely has made countless friends, on top of that the individual might have been in position of authority. When the individual retires he or she loses the environment that made him the individual he or she was. Some adults go into a shock because they no longer have a purpose. Some feel like they are no longer needed, and often many older people tend to feel neglected or left out of society (Zastrow, H. C., & Oren, D.2009). It is a difficult time for the elderly. Because before they were needed, they had a purpose. Raised children, had a purpose in their career, and often had friends and peers that made their social life exciting. With these last remaining years this all starts to fade away, friends, family, a loved one, and even their own health. This is why living in a nursing home can be so beneficial. It is expected by the year 2050, that there will be just over one hundred million adults over the age of  sixty five (‘Administration of Aging’, 2014). Currently there are just over twenty million adults of the age of sixty five years of age. What this means is that the need for facilities such as hospices and nursing homes, as well as other health care related facilities will be on a rise as the years continue. Living accommodations in a nursing home may not be a farfetched idea for an elderly individual. This is because nursing homes have individuals just like their own. One reason most senior citizens get depressed is because they are often left alone, let us say their partner had passed away, most senior citizens withdraw from the world too. (2009). Nursing homes may allow new friendships and bonds to be formed with people in their own age group. A nursing home or hospice is the perfect environment for an aging individual not only for the social aspect, but the health aspects as well. When an elderly adult lives alone his or her health will often be highly neglected. In a nursing or hospice home however, there are many great hea lth benefits to take into consideration. According to â€Å"Dependableathome† (2009) the benefits of having an elderly adult in a nursing home is because of the environment is made for retired individuals. For one the nurses are all skilled, and highly equipped to handle aged individuals. These facilities allow for individuals to get services such as occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech and language services, as well as many other medical and social services that can ensure that the individual’s needs are met as best as possible. These are all benefits to an individual that went through adjustment in both retirement and their relationship in marriage, family and peer relationships. Adjustments into retirement can be difficult to overcome; retirement is one of the hardest situations to adjust to. When a person retires, he or she realizes that their life is starting to come down. Often most individuals do not know what to do with their self. Often for most people it takes a while for them to adjust to being home all day Zastrow, H. C., & Oren, D. (2009). They often try to find projects to do around the house but after a while a form of depression kicks in. Another transition they must face is their changes in marriage, their family, and their peer relationships. Often sooner or later a spouse will die, peers will start to die, and family starts to drift off. This is an inevitable process. When a spouse dies the individual usually withdraws from society. When peers start to die it is a bittersweet  remembrance that their time is limited and the people they connected with in the past are no longer here. Family like children are full grown and living their own lives, this often neglects the older adult and is usually left alone to spend his or her remaining years by him or herself. Senior citizens not only deal with these types of hardships but social political hardships as well. Adults who are retired have a tough task at hand indeed. Individuals who once were working no longer have near the income that they once had. Most retired adults made poor choices as into how to set an up a retirement plan. Thus most retired adults only have so cial security income. Surviving on social security income alone is nearly impossible.Thus there are many social policies, laws and programs aimed into trying to help our retired population. Proper health care is one of the policies trying to be ensured to each retired adult. Proper health care will allow for one’s parent to be ensured into a proper nursing home. According to † Administration of Aging. (2014), political issues that surround retired adults, include equipped and ensuring the proper resources are available to retired adults. These resources include proper medical care. Proper institutions such as nursing homes are available in the right areas and environment, and to make sure the low income retired adults are getting the nutrition he or she needs. There are also plenty of organizations aimed to ensure and to fight potential cuts to the older population to ensure that these populations get what they rightfully deserve.(2014). On a final note, in our growing population the need for facilities such as hospices, and nursing homes are on all time rises. With this growing population many families have to deal with the inevitable loss of a loved one. This inevitable lose can be a very tough, and challenging time for any family. For families a nursing home may be a perfect solution to help a family member in his or her last phase, or journey if one may in life. For with this growing population there are many different needs and factors that contribute in the later adulthood stage. Well obvious needs and changes are biological some needs are not so obvious; such changing needs both occur in social needs, and personality needs as well. Whatever the need may be it is important to take into consideration of each and every one of these retired individual are needs. Each one of these people have helped contribute in some sort of way into the growth of our country and we as a country need to  ensure that these people are getting the proper care they deserve. References Administration of Aging. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.aoa.gov/Aging_Statistics/future_growth/future_growth.aspx Dependableathome. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.dependableathome.com/ Zastrow, H. C., & Oren, D. (2009). Understanding Human Behavior and the Social environment (8th Ed.). Retrieved from the University of Phoenix EBook Collection Database