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Lucky That Way
“I decide that from now on we should listen to him. His lip may be deflated and his left side paralyzed, but he knows. And he has made terrible mistakes. But he knows. He knows. We are lucky that way.” Lucky That Way , a nuanced, richly engaging memoir, chronicles the joys and tribulations of a daughter who rediscovers her father as he nears the end of his life. Ernie Gerhardt, an artist and teacher, is largely estranged from his five children, but when he suffers a debilitating stroke, his daughter Pamela must fly to Las Vegas to tend to him. When she arrives to find Ernie newly and shockingly fragile, she is hit by an unexpected wave of tenderness. As she watches over him in intensive care, she recalls turning points in her family history—the early death of her mother and her father’s turn to heavy drinking--and reflects on the idiosyncrasies that make an imperfect and unique family, on what it means to become old, on what happens when parents are no longer the caregivers but the cared-for, and on how a family copes with their responsibility to the elderly. Written in a crisp, engaging style, the story is less about the drudgery of finding the right mix of medicines, at-home caregivers, and rehabilitation centers and more about the emotional ramifications of caring for the sick under the weight of sometimes flawed attachments. People make mistakes, grow old, get sick, and pass on from this world. Lucky That Way examines the irritations and comforts of contemporary family bonds. Gerhardt sifts through the complicated, multi-layered relationships for both wry comedy and high drama and records a string of triumphs and mishaps as Ernie and his five adult children struggle to manage his life and find meaning before their time runs out. The emerging theme of imperfect humans struggling with life's great mysteries will strike a chord of recognition with the tens of thousands of Baby-Boomers and Gen-Xers who are currently facing similar circumstances with their elderly loved ones. Pamela Gerhardt’s heartfelt story about a family coming to terms with their aging father’s illness and imminent death takes readers on an emotional roller coaster that highlights love, loss, humor, and sadness.
eBook
Mr. Know-It-All : the tarnished wisdom of a filth elder
\"The newest essay collection from the New York Times-bestselling John Waters, reflecting on how to overcome newfound responsibility and rebel in the autumn of your years\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Older people’s perceptions and self-reported usage of the mobile app, “Hear Me Now”: a feasibility study
Purpose
Mobile technology and applications offer a new approach to personalised care for older people. Hear Me Now (HMN), developed by Maldaba Ltd, is an application for smartphones and tablets. Although originally conceived and co-produced by individuals with learning disabilities and their supporters, anecdotal evidence from specialist practitioners indicated that older people with chronic health conditions and frailty might also benefit from use of the HMN app. This feasibility study sought to explore whether older people could use the HMN app and examine their usage. The aim of this feasibility study was to explore whether older people could use HMN and to examine their usage of this application.
Design/methodology/approach
A purposive sample of six individuals (M = 4; F = 2) aged between 65 and 90 years was recruited for the study. Following training, the participants used HMN at home for different purposes over three months. Concurrently, the participants took part in an online interview every three weeks (N = 5 interviews). They also completed the Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) questionnaire during Weeks 1 and 12 and the system usability scale during Week 12 to assess usability of HMN.
Findings
The participants used the HMN app for a range of purposes and indicated that their confidence and skills increased when using HMN. Though the participants reported diverse experiences of using HMN for different purposes, it was clear the majority considered this app helpful in managing daily life and their health conditions; however, they also experienced barriers in its use such as dexterity and visual problems.
Research limitations/implications
This is a small feasibility study that was restricted to older people using the HMN app. Though valuable insights were obtained from the participants, the evidence that older people could use HMN to support their personal activities and to self-manage health conditions remains anecdotal. Further research is therefore warranted following adaptation of HMN for use by older people.
Originality/value
This study indicates that patient self-management apps such as HMN have the potential to enable older adults with long-term health conditions to play an active role in managing their condition.
Journal Article
Secondhand stories in a rusting Steel City.(Steel City Pawnbrokers in Braddock, Pennsylvania)
Coggins provides details on Braddock, Pennsylvania. The borough is a poor place, mostly black, mostly a shadow of the boomtown steel days. Steel country--home to Andrew Carnegie's first mill. The industrial nexus of the Monongahela, Allegheny, and Ohio rivers. Jobs, families, and children. Streets with movie theaters, pharmacies, and restaurants. Schools with trophy-winning football teams. America's first supermarket, an A&P, opened here. Carnegie's first library, too. In the 1920s, more than 20,000 people called Braddock home. Industry bloomed; soot stuck to aging stony buildings. In the 1970s, steel crashed and took livelihoods with it in an economic free fall. In 2009, a full fifth of the population earned less than $10,000 annually. Today, fewer than 2,200 residents remain, and Braddock's median income has dropped to less than half the state average.
Journal Article
Telling stories out of school: Experiencing the paramedic's oral traditions and role dissonance
Role dissonance is an uncomfortable experience for graduate paramedics, and some blame their university education for the problem. For paramedics the conflict is between identifying as a rescuer and acting largely as a care giver. With vocational pathways into so many uniformed professions closing down in preference for graduate entrants, young new professionals have to negotiate a rapidly changing work culture. Their older colleagues may be challenged and threatened by the new order. For paramedics the problem is compounded by the newness of its place in the tertiary landscape. Since 9/11 young people have been increasingly attracted to rescue roles. Yet in Australia there is increasing need and scope for health workers in remote and aging populations, a preference not immediately attractive to young people hoping for a more heroic future. While the near professions such as nursing have established their discourses around culture, role and pedagogy, paramedics is still trying to chisel its identity. The myths of paramedic glories past tend to add to the confusion of graduates. Due to a lack of empirical studies of non-clinical aspects of paramedicine, a bricolage methodology was used to refresh data from two discrete qualitative research projects conducted in 2011. Both projects had originally been interested in optimal paramedic preceptorship before and after graduation, but neither had explored the implicit theme which revealed the role of rescue experiences in paramedic culture and identity. The bricolage included a new search of literature from near professions and applied new theoretical frameworks to the analysis of the extant data, to demonstrate how storytelling as an element of paramedic collegiality perpetuates rescue stories that are then used to define paramedic work.
•Storytelling is a defining characteristic of paramedic culture.•Work demands preclude participation in the 9–5 world.•Since 9/11 rescue professions have attracted young people.•Social difficulties in the paramedic workplace are well documented.•Students wanted to perform well in a life-saving.
Journal Article
Aging and Health in America: A Tale From Two Boomers
Public health has a key role in promoting healthy aging, advocating for those in greatest need, and linking families to available services and supports. Because of its focus on the broad spectrum of factors that impact population health-environmental, economic, cultural, societal, and personal-public health is ideally suited to identify services to meet the needs of aging Americans as well as provide a road map for the families who will increasingly be called upon to care for their elderly loved ones.
Journal Article