My grandparents have been leaders in their church community for their whole marriage and had basically an open door policy when it came to visitors. Anyone was welcome in their home, family, friends, people from the church stopping by for advice or help, people stopping by to help them, and anyone else that wanted to be blessed by their presence. Then the pandemic hit at the same time that they were aging into their 80s. We as a family were afraid to get them sick and further shorten the years that they had left. None of us would forgive ourselves if we did. So their visits suddenly turned from anyone and everyone, to just family members with masks hiding our smiles. My grandparents didn’t see my smile for about a year. They were sad to say the least. Frequent visits from friends solely turned to phone calls and that wasn’t the same for two people longing for interaction that also had a hard time hearing people on the phone.
In the CECE video it discussed the topics of emotional wellness and cognitive wellness. Emotional wellness is about being hopeful and resilient despite challenges, and is also associated with cognitive wellness to increase satisfaction with life. Emotional wellness leads to positive perceptions of the world and a person’s future and can also be associated with the development of fewer mobility limitations. Cognitive wellness is described as seeing the link between needing control and self-efficacy, and the commitment to lifelong good health and lifelong learning. Keeping these two aspects in mind while caring for the older population is important because even though this population may need increased help, self efficacy and control is very important. Because someone is physically impaired does not mean that they are cognitively impaired. I see aging as a beautiful aspect of life and want to make patients comfortable that have to deal with the challenges of an aging body and mind.
Thank you, Samantha, for sharing so thoughtfully about the challenges your grandparents faced during the pandemic, as well as about which concepts of the CECE webinar resonated with you. In our society, I think we are quick to infantalize older adults – especially those who become dependent on others for certain activities of daily living – and view/treat them the same way we do babies or toddlers. You raise a great point that self-efficacy and control are still very important to older adults, and it is our duty as those who may care for them to keep that in mind.