Written by the Department Head of VMH Elderly Medical Center, something we should ALL take into account, seeing how people are living longer and longer by the decades now…translated…
Since Grandma Chen finished with her yearly health checks, she’d become, hovered in gloom, there were, many red markings from the results, the hospital where she was examined had recommended her to see eight different departments in the hospital, seeing the numbers, she’d not known what she was to do, and can only, head to the departments to get checked, and, it took her a total of two whole months, to finish her checks completely, and afterwards, she’d become, even more depressed, her name had been found synonymous, with heaven only KNOWS how many conditions, only knew, that in a blink of an eye, she’d turned into an elderly, who marked down her days with the illnesses and the medications she was taking, her life became chaotic, and, heading to the hospitals regularly had, drained her energies completely.
not like this…not my photo…
Don’t Use the Numbers to Define the Statuses of Health
There’s, this close link between being older and illnesses, the coming of age became, the primary causes of a lot of progressive conditions, but, there’s, debates on the defining of these conditions, and the treatment measures for the elderly population, and, using the normal adult’s standards to define whether if an elderly is healthy enough prove to be problematic. The WHO set up new structures on how to define the health conditions of the elderly population, that aging healthy must focus on strengthening the amounts of health the elder already has, and adding on to the exercises, the mobilities. Meaning, that the guidelines for how healthy an elderly person is, is based off of improving the psychological and physical wellbeing, not just the absence or presence of an illness, or the test results.
Based off of statistical measures, over ninety percent of elders has more than ONE progressive condition, more than HALF has at least THREE progressive conditions, and, managing the progressive conditions is also focused on strengthening the body and the mind, not just alleviating the symptoms of the conditions themselves. In recent years, due to the changes in beliefs, the measures of controlling the symptoms of the conditions is slowly changing, for the group of people who are aging into their elderly years.
Guiding the Elderly to Accept the Deteriorations of the Bodies
Because the Taiwanese population is aging too fast, the societies knowledge of elderly and illness, and the considerations of advices to stay healthy came from the medical re4alm, and in this situation, the aging became a combination of being assigned multiple illnesses and multiple medications, and were labeled as enjoying “shopping” at the hospitals, assigning the elderly the role of patients in the society, and their quality of life would be, reduced greatly.
but more of this…not my photo still…
Although the WHO repeatedly pointed out, that being healthy is NOT the absence of illness, but in the traditional beliefs, illnesses had, turned into the most troubling thing in the elderly’s lives. And, as the world shifts the definition of aging healthy became more cellular, the medical systems and the society also need to make the shifts in belief, so they can become, more accepting and more innovative in beliefs. If the elderly’s social statuses are being defined by illnesses, then, the contents of living in the elderly years became, reduced, and, by treating the deteriorations due to old age as diseases, it’d often caused the elderly worrisome, and couldn’t adjust well to their own growing older.
Changing Lifestyle, and Making the Elderly Population Healthier
The modern day man are spending about twenty years of their lives as “elderly”, or even longer, and, these twenty plus years should not be looked upon as with the mindset of being retired from work, nor should it be keeping guard over the blood pressures readings, the medications, you MUST have that drive, to continue the pursuits of your dreams, and the progressive conditions DO need managing, but, they’re NOT reasons for you, to reduce or limit yourself in life.
and this…not my photo…
In the help of medical professionals who held this belief system, you would get all the red markings on the health exam reports analyzed again, and select out the ones that really has an effect on your life daily, set up a reachable management goal, to NOT define the individual by the organic diseases, and, give a report on the exercises recommended to the patients, the diets they should keep, and now, Grandma Chen’s diary isn’t completely covered with doctors’ visits, medicines, she’d found ways, to liven up her life and the colors returned back to her life, she’d gone back, to living as she had, before she was diagnosed with all the conditions she was, diagnosed with.
So, here’s something IMPORTANT, to help the elderly population age healthier, the medicines are a necessity, to keep the elderly’s system working, but, the QUALITY of life is WAY more important, to keep being active in what you enjoy doing in life, keeping up with the hobbies you enjoy, staying active, that, is the key to aging gracefully, and, take your medications as you need to, but, the meds are only, aimed at alleviating the symptoms of the conditions you have, NOT curing it!
Life, the Obstacle Course 