Life Histories and the Hospice Counselor - Essay Example

Interview Introduction Old age is a special time for everyone. To some, it is something to be excited about, while some others fear its nearing point in one's life. True, being an elderly brings in different issues and surprises in life that would likely mark the climax of one's existence on earth. In this interview paper, an assessment on how a Hospice in Florida tries to make old age among their patients worthwhile to live with. Within the paragraphs that follow, an understanding on how the elderly should be understood by institutions handling their needs and demands so as to make them feel right as they try to face the different challenges that old age itself offers them. Part 1: The Hospice Counselor Hospice workers are actually regarded as the doorway to an end-of-life healthcare system in that includes all practitioner including the nurses, doctors, counselors and chaplains. This idea is mainly observed by the society because most of the patients in hospice organization include patients that are elderly, in comatose or in crucial near-death health condition. Thus, people usually believe that hospice cares are actually health system for people who do not have any more hope for betterment. However, on the contrary to the common belief, hospice care still gives patients hope and strength to struggle for survival and alleviate their adverse health conditions. For patients who are struggling old age and only enduring their last moments in life, other principles are being applied by hospice workers towards their health care system. Thus, hospice health care becomes an important aspect in general care-giving system because of its significance and value for patients who are in serious and critical health conditions. A counselor is mainly a part of the health care system that handles psychological evaluation and gives out support at the same time while aiding the health system of the patient. For a hospice counselor, supporting the patient in psychological and emotional aspects are very much important since it is expected that the patient is already going through tumultuous depression due to his or her health condition. To better understand the concepts of the principles used and applied by the hospice counselor, the writer interviewed Sandi Sunter, a hospice counselor in the Hospice of the Florida Suncoast for already twenty years. When asked the question "How would you describe the nature of your work" he kindly replied that, "dealing with patients in hospice homes is very much emotional and requires lots of patients and understanding." Regarding the principles in hospice healthcare, the writer asked "What are the common human change principles you are using in dealing with your patients in your hospice institutions" To answer this inquiry, Sunter replied that: "Most of the patient already started to give up on their health system thus further aggravating their medical condition. Counselor must be able to give these kinds of patient further psychological and emotional assistance by comforting them through psychosocial component. Some of them provide spiritual comforting others emotional support and most of them must always be available for their patients. These patients commonly face fears of losing and dying thus counselor must be present for their patient to rekindle their flame of hope to continue struggling through their health care medication and treatment." In addition, for other kinds of patients who are struggling through their old age with their remaining time of their life, other approaches must be used in dealing with them. According to Sunter, most of the patients in this class have already accepted the fact that their deaths are already impending thus they only wish to enjoy their remaining moments. This will be the point where counselor should come in. They must always assure that they wish of their patients must be met and be able to give their patients supports for them to enjoy their remaining time. Hospice health care is actually a major turning point in the life of their patients. This is actually the point where the patient's courage and fate will be tested in making the choice to either push through or give up on their condition. Accordingly, the interview conducted by the writer did produce certain principle that is very much relevant in administering and applying certain hospice healthcare system. As suggested by the interviewed counselor, hospice worker must be committed in supporting their patients through the difficult process of healthcare in hospice institution. Thus, this principle must be thoroughly and generally applied in the hospice organization diagnosis and intervention in applying healthcare approaches to the patient. The personal choice of patient at this time is very much crucial affecting his or her future and outlook on his or her personal life. Thus, hospice counselors must be able to support their patient in making the rightfully ethical answer at the said moment. Hospice health care system does not only concern the medication and treatment but also the patient's personal stability. Hope is a matter of a general medication for serious and critical health conditions thus making it very vital for survival. During these moments, hospice counselors also become one of the main sources of hope making their presence, actions, and their encouragement vital and significant for the patient who is struggling for the future of his or her own life. Part 2: The Hospice Patients (a) An Interview Focused on the Service Received by the Patient of the Hospice The first interviewee is a 65 year-old woman who was suffering from diabetes and occasional arthritis attacks. According to her, it is now her fourth year in the hospice, and so far, she has nothing to say but good news about the way that she is treated in the institution. According to her, the institutions is obviously taking great concerns on how they are able to provide the satisfaction that their patient need to have. From the interview garnered from the said individual, it has been realized by the interviewer that the institution in deed upholds the necessary points of consideration that can instantly assure the satisfaction of their patients. In the field of giving medical care to the people, it is rather important to consider how the patients are being satisfied with the type of services that they are receiving from their caregivers. Undoubtedly, through the years, caregivers such as nurses and other healthcare professionals try much to reach the goal of becoming highly involved in mastering the rightful process of servicing to their clients, the patients. What then are the necessary points that need consideration in the medical official's search for the finest service that would satisfy both the needs and demands of the people There are at least three major areas of focus that needs to be discussed when this kind of issue comes into light. The said elements of fine medical service are noted as follows: (A) Creation of fine policies that could serve as guidelines for the given service: This shall involve the different points of consideration that needs attention when one particular medical staff is giving health care assistance to a patient. Through the policies set to assist in the process, the standard procedure of servicing the clients should be observed strictly. (B) Creation of procedural approach for decision making in several special health cases: Special health cases usually involve emergency decisions. The process of making decisions is at times quite unpredictable, especially if the case to be treated is abrupt. Thus, a standard procedure should be set, especially when no one around is able to decide for an unconscious patient. (C) Involving patient and patient's relatives in coming up with the necessary decisions about treatments: The patient's relatives or close loved ones should be given the chance to help in the decision making pertaining to what particular manner of treatment would be accepted by the family as a process of health assistance applied on the patient. This is especially applicable with serious illnesses and other terminal medical cases. With the discussion presented, it could be observed that there are three major approaches in service that needs consideration on the part of the healthcare professionals when it comes to satisfying their clients. These three elements particularly involve fine decision making on the part of the care givers themselves and the involvement of the family within the process to give regard to their importance in the situation. Obviously, the procedure of extending the service to satisfy the client's values as the major focus of the service involves the major action on the part of the administrator's implementation of the necessary guidelines needed to assist the personnel in giving considerable type of service to their customers who are naturally the patients wanting the best satisfactory assistance and care that they need to survive the health issues that they are particularly facing. According to the interviewee, it is with this particular culture of the hospice that she was able to realize the satisfaction that she needed in her life even now during the end of her days. She notes that the said approach to caring for her needs has become a great source of hope and understanding towards positive life views that she needed to survive the challenges of old age. B. On Elderly and the Society Aging is a universal phenomenon that every individual has a certain possibility to experience it once in their life provided that they reach the specific age where someone is considered to be senior citizen. Accordingly, every society has a specific portion of it that is comprised of senior citizens and the size of that division is expected to increase at some point in the future. However though the aging aspect has a certainty nature for every society, some views regarding this matter is still contradictory and problematic for certain groups of population. Most of the concerns and problems involving aging is directly related or attributed to the aspect of health care utilization and provision in the society. For some groups of population or social minorities, the aspect of aging is enticed with problems involving economic matters, health-related issues and social contexts. Every society has different connotations and viewpoint regarding the aspect of aging and the enticed health care utilization with it and these differences are mainly the roots of the distinctive complications concerning the said topic. These social classes are mainly the African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and the collective class of women. African American and Hispanics For many populations who are rooted with the African Americans and Hispanics, most of the problems in their social class are attributed to the biological nature of their ancestry. Many scientific researches have determined that African Americans life expectancy is generally lower than any other race and this rate still continuously lower over passing generations. Conducted researches have concluded that the average life expectancy for African Americans is 70.2 years compared to an average of 76.5 years for all population groups. In addition, life expectancy for African American men is 66.1 years compared to the national average of 73.6 years for all men (Michigan Canter for Urban African American Aging Research, 2006). Another health factor directly attributed to the aging aspect is the number of diagnosed cancer cases for the African American societies. Medical research has concluded that cases of diagnosed cancer for African American societies are 21% higher on both men and women compare to other societies. Death attributed to cancer annually is 30 % and 16% higher for men and women respectively compare to other societies. Aside from these factors, other medical condition such as heart diseases, hypertension-related complications are also age-related problems for the African American societies (MCUAAAR, 2006). For the Hispanics societies, most of their problems that are attributed to aging are rooted in their social as well as biological nature. For their biological aspect, some researches found out that Hispanics are people who are more likely to have age-related complications such as diabetes, hypertension and cancer. In addition, like the African American society, cases of Alzheimer's disease for these specific societies are greater compared to other social groups thus aging for them are a matter of health complications (Garcia, 2006). In addition, social issues such as elderly support from their families and relatives are also one of the main complications attributed to aging for the Hispanic societies. Conducted social surveys have expressed significant numbers of Hispanic elderly that are residing in nursing and elderly institutions instead of staying with their families (Garcia, 2006). Asian American Elders and Native Americans Elderly of the Asian American societies are commonly faced with social problems in their aspect of aging. Mostly, these problems are rooted in the social complications involving their society with the rest of the population. Often, Asian American especially their senior citizens are regarded as the "silent minority" or the "invisible minority" thus they often experienced certain discrimination stumbling down their access to health care institutions. This social problem is mainly attributed to the cultural nature of the Asian American society such as their difficulty with speaking the general English language, their distrust regarding the social service programs, lack of awareness about health care utilization and their cultural belief concerning the responsibility towards elderly care giving (Joo and Price, 2006). For Native Americans societies, same problems such as that of the Asian Americans post certain age-related complications for them. Different social perception and perspectives toward their societies and economic issues affect much of their health care utilization thus posing certain problems involving their senior citizen's heath conditions (Bosworth & Burtless, 1998). Women Aging women are more likely to experienced depression compare to men and this issue is greatly attributed to psychological, physiological and sociological perspective concerning womanhood. Some of these problems are attributed to the physiological nature of women involving health conditions such as hormonal changes and health complications such as chances of breast and ovarian cancer (Morgan & Kunkel, pp107-130). Other causes of depression for women during the aging state are attributed to sociological and psychological perspectives such as aesthetic and beauty issues, which are commonly in the state of deterioration for women at old age (Morgan & Kunkel, pp143-150). Conclusion Aging is a natural condition and all of the population is expected to reach that state regardless of social class and status. But still, all of the population have contributed at some point to the development of society thus they should not be neglected and their needs as senior citizens must still be adequately address by the present and young society. Regardless of social roots and class, whether they are Native American or African American or Hispanic or Asian, they still have rights to access and utilize the heath care system that are being provided by the social institutions and their respective governments at the present. In addition, the heath care service of the present must also be sufficient develop to properly address the specific and certain needs these different social minorities and the others need to enjoy a favorable and healthy old age. Institutions such as the Hospice of the Florida Suncoast are indeed able to give chance to old aged individuals to realize their worth as being who were able to give the best that they could for the people that they love and for the society that they use to live in. Bibliography Interviewee: Sandi Sunter 20 years counselor at Hospice of the Florida Suncoast Mrs. Smith. Age: 65; Patient and the Hospice of the Florida Suncoast. Bosworth, Barry & Burtless, Gary (1998). Population Aging and American Economic Performance. Aging Societies: The Global Dimension. Brookings Institutions Press. Massachusetts, Washington. Chapter 6, pp 267-310. Garcia, Alejandro (2006). Elderly Hispanics and the 2005 White House Conference on Aging. National Hispanic Council on Aging. http://www.nhcoa.org/site/nhcoa/content.phptype=1&id=12462. December 1, 2008. Joo, Eunjee & Price, Christine (2006). Asian American Older Adults. The Ohio Department of Aging: Senior Series. The Ohio State University Extension. http://ohioline.osu.edu/ss-fact/pdf/0194.pdf. December 1, 2008. Michigan Canter for Urban African American Aging Research (2006). The Healthier Blacks Elders Center. Wayne State University. http://mcuaaar.iog.wayne.edu/healthier.php. December 1, 2008. Morgan, Leslie A. & Kunkel, Suzanne (2001). Dimensions of Aging. Aging: The Social Context. Pine Forge Press. Sage Publications Company. Teller Road, California. Chapter III, pp 107-208. ISBN. 0-7619-8731-2. Scott Louis Diering. (1999). Love Your Patients! Improving Patient Satisfaction with Essential Behaviors That Enrich the Lives of Patients and Professionals. Routledge Publishing. Read More