Health and Wellness for the Elderly Citizen\'s

Health and Wellness for the Elderly

Elderly Citizen's Health and Wellness

Elderly Citizen's Health and Wellness

Health and Wellness for the Elderly

Interview Transcript

The aim of this interview is to identify the health and wellness of an elderly person with the aim of providing knowledge on areas. These are areas that social health workers and the government services can develop to improve the overall public health of the community. The program first focuses on the elderly population since it is the most neglected of the general population in terms of public health programs. This is especially necessary for the population not living in elderly and assisted living homes. The interview is confidential, with information purely meant for academic and policy makers.

Can you tell me what you consider in your daily activities are physical activities or physical exercise?

In your opinion, is your current physical regime different from when you were younger?

If not, would you say that you are active elderly person who has maintained an active lifestyle?

4. Often, people consider games like "Bingo," "Gardening," or "Knitting Clubs" as hobbies for the elderly. Of the milliard of activities like reading, crossword puzzles, card games, or reading, what activity would do you consider as challenging and your motivator?

5. What are your reasons for participating in this activity? Do you engage in it for the challenge and learning purposes?

6. What activity, social or individual, do you participate in for leisure, for the fun or for enjoyment?

7. Away from the fun side, which activity or activities give your life meaning? I mean activities like teaching the young, probably your grandchildren, church or religious activities, probably some community or social work.

8. Is it an activity you have participated in for a long time? For how long?

9. Do you think this meaningful activity stems from your talent, or did you create it to remain actively engaged?

10. Who or what would you consider comprises your social circle? Let us talk about social groups, probably a club, community program, business, and friends, along those lines.

11. How would you rate your social life? are you more active now than when you were younger, or are it vice versa?

Part II: Reflective Paper

The interviewee came across as an active, sociable, and optimist individual, who responded to each question with enthusiasm. The interviewee is a 68-year-old mother of two, and grandmother five living by herself in her matrimonial home. She divulges that her husband died fifteen years ago in a car accident. Her children are grown up, living and working in different states.

The interviewee responds to each question well and as fully as possible. What came as a surprise in the interview is her insistence that "old age doesn't have to be a drag." This is because I had made the assumption that since she was living alone and miles away from her children, she would complain of loneliness. The interviewee indicates that she lives by her life philosophy of "loving life and loving it to the fullest." She chooses to remain active, social, and appreciative of reaching her age, without dragging her emotions down with a weakening health or physical strength. Interestingly, she divulges that her children being miles away are not a bother, since she believes she raised them well and blessed them to prosper wherever they go. She maintains a strong communication link with the children and grandchildren, who she visits, or they visit as frequently as possible. The open relationship implies that their visits are not limited to holidays or to family emergencies.

The interviewee has an active life and maintains an active physical regime comprising of yoga classes, walks, and aerobic classes in the gym, twice a week. She also swims, especially in the summer with her three close friends. Since she has a full time gardener who also acts as her driver on occasion and house help, she does little housework, and prefers spending time in social and outdoor activities. Therefore, she participates more in physical activities including swimming and walking, and less of the washing and cleaning. However, she indicates that her physical work out is less aggressive as activities she engaged in when she was young. In her youth, she jogged every morning, visited the gym thrice a week, swam over the weekends, did more cleaning, gardening, and housework. She participated in neighborhood catering and cooking activities for parties, as she loved making and baking home cooked meals.

This active physical life also transcends to her leisure and social activities. The interviewee finds physical activities like swimming and golf fun activities that she enjoys as leisure activities with her close friends. The interviewee enjoys playing chess, scrabble, and cross word puzzles with her friends. She indicates that she also enjoys reading a chapter a day of a book prior to going to bed, just to keep her mind as focused as possible. To make the social gatherings interesting, the group combines them with activities like picnics, luncheons, and book club discussion. It is noted that the interviewee has a healthy and all round social life. This is because apart from maintaining a close relationship with her children and grandchildren miles away, she regularly visits her brother who lives five blocks away from her. She has maintained a close relation with her in-laws who live I the same city and has maintained the same friends from her days in college. Apart from these close friends and family, the interviewee has a healthy network of friends, neighbors, and acquaintances. This network is from her membership at the golf and country club, her church and charity organization. Given the range of activities both in her private and public sphere, it is no doubt the interviewee has a strong social support network. This is because she is invited and recognized in many charitable, community, family, and church activities. I noticed this not only from her response to the interview, but also from the numerous photographs and accolades on her walls.

It is evident the interviewee enjoys participating in social and meaningful activities, like the community projects organized by her church and charity work by their country club organization. The interviewee indicates that these activities bring her closer to people, who she believes are the true meaning of life. She recalls meaningful life events are the moments she shared celebrating the birth of a child with a neighbor, a wedding for a friend's daughter, or the smile of a homeless person at the church shelter. It is evident her charity and community activities have been part of her social life since she was in high school. Since she is an excellent cook and party organizer, she has offered her services for free and for a small fee in many social functions over the decades. This has made her win the local "Person of the Year Award" for many years. There is no doubt the interviewee has a healthy living environment, with an active social and personal life. The interviewee indicates she drives herself to many of the social and personal activities within the area. She will take a taxi to an event or to the airport, but in emergencies or when visiting a long distance relative, she prefers her driver.