My classmates and I decided to go to a nursing home to see what life there was like. The nursing home is Mary Manning Walsh on 72 Street. When we first go there, it reminded me when i went to go visit my great-aunt. It looks like a regular building maybe to make the elderly feel "comfortable" as if they are living normally but there aren't. Both nursing homes were very simliar. The fact that it looked like they had own their own apartment and go about their business any other day as if it wasn't a nursing home. It was as if the nurses weren't there and they only responded when assisstance was needed. Like as if, the old people live like did 20 years ago.
As we you go up more floors that "homing" feeling began to go away. We all looked at each other like "what the hell?". It smelled digusting. There was the smell of urine and all kinds of medications. Most of the patients look like they didn't enjoy being there and seemed depressed compared to all the pictures on the walls as walked. Lots of them where in wheelchairs and honestly i think they would probably want to die in their own home than be here. Why stick a whole bunch of depressed lifeless people in one building and make more sad, it just doesn't seem right.
It's funny because in cartoons and things, old people seem grumpy and don't ever want to talk to people because they are alone. The majority of the people there, you could tell do not get enough vistors. We talked to a two elderly people and it looked like they were enjoying the company. It was like a warm feeling inside they had which made me feel good as well. Going there kind of made think that i don't want to end up there or any of my family members because it's just not a good feeling. I want to be able to take care of my family especially my mom and dad till their very last day. It's easy to give the responsiblitiy to a stranger who gets paid to take care of old people.
I was reading an article and it talked about how the nurses don't really get to know that patients very well because they are always rotating.
Visitor: How’s my father doing today?
Aide: Which one is your father?
Or:
Visitor: Is my mother’s appetite better today?
Aide: I’m not sure; I wasn’t here yesterday.
Or:
Visitor: How’s my aunt getting along with her new roommate?
Aide: I’m sorry, I don’t know. I usually work on the third floor.
The nurses do not establish a relationship with their patients because there isn't enough of them. Its like a revolving door. It's always someone new each day. I wouldn't want someone taking care of my loved one and know nothing about them. I think these are the few reasons why dying/ill feel the way they do. "Nearly 43 percent of nursing homes have signed on to the Advancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Home campaign, which began four years ago. Yet Dr. Mary Jane Koren, the geriatrician who is leading the campaign, estimates that only a quarter of homes practice consistent assignment on weekdays and perhaps only 10 percent for all shifts on all days." They should be able to have that "homing" feeling while they are "guests" just as people do in hotels.
http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/13/getting-to-know-you/?ref=nursinghomes
Monday, January 17, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
HW#29 - Reading and noting basic materials
The process of dying and illnesses has many parts to it and how it's seen differently no matter where you go. The book i read My Brother by Jamaica Kincaid discussed the issues of her brother having AIDS and nobody caring about you and not getting the proper service/care that you need to stay well coming from the island of Antigua. Especially how she didn't know how to cope with her feelings. In the book it said "My friend Bud said to me her found it strange the way people in Antigua regard illness, that when a person is ill no one mentions it, no one pays a visit; but if the person should die, there is a big outpouring of people at the funeral"(page 146). Nobody there understand how to deal with people with AIDS who are dying and believe they should stick to themselves because they are healthy. Jamaica Kincaid didn't know whether to be sympathetic to the whole situation or move on with her life. Some people have resistance to dying people while other are the exact opposite.
We had a guest speaker who talked about her husband who passed away, the struggles that she had and different aspects that she chose to cope with everything that was going on. Beth dealt with her husband's terminal illness by always being right by his side no matter what. It didn't matter the place or time. She said that they didn't have to be talking, that she could be silent with him and that's all that matter. Just the fact that she was in his presence is what made their relationship very special. Her husband wasn't being isolated but instead rewarded with the other people's company such as his wife and family.
When people have become terminal sick they become isolated from the world and other people. In the documentary, Near Death the doctors and the nurses to do not have any physical or emotional attachment to the patients just like in the book "My Brother." In the movie it was as if they weren't a part of the human world anymore but this sick world. The patients were very abandoned and alone to just lay there and die. It's like two completely different worlds. If you are on the verge of dying, why would they treat you? When this happens there nothing really much to do but to give you the little treatment you need to slow your death because there is nothing you can do to make things better.
Just like hospitals, nursing homes do the same thing. They take these older people with other older people and stick them in one place where they all feel the same depressed, sick, and old. They probably don't recieve much companies from others so they live their life to whatever they can. That's probably why most old people enjoy young fresh company. In stigma it said "the term stigma, then, will be used to refer to an attributr that is deeply discrediting, but should be seen that a language of relationships, not attributes, is really needed. An attributer stigmatizes opne type of possesor can confirm the usualness of another and therefore is neither creditable as a thing itself". It's kind of like you being judged by what you have like your disease etc. By that sickness you are premantenly put somewhere with your own kind. You are always reminded that yiou are a part of that "stigma".
We had a guest speaker who talked about her husband who passed away, the struggles that she had and different aspects that she chose to cope with everything that was going on. Beth dealt with her husband's terminal illness by always being right by his side no matter what. It didn't matter the place or time. She said that they didn't have to be talking, that she could be silent with him and that's all that matter. Just the fact that she was in his presence is what made their relationship very special. Her husband wasn't being isolated but instead rewarded with the other people's company such as his wife and family.
When people have become terminal sick they become isolated from the world and other people. In the documentary, Near Death the doctors and the nurses to do not have any physical or emotional attachment to the patients just like in the book "My Brother." In the movie it was as if they weren't a part of the human world anymore but this sick world. The patients were very abandoned and alone to just lay there and die. It's like two completely different worlds. If you are on the verge of dying, why would they treat you? When this happens there nothing really much to do but to give you the little treatment you need to slow your death because there is nothing you can do to make things better.
Just like hospitals, nursing homes do the same thing. They take these older people with other older people and stick them in one place where they all feel the same depressed, sick, and old. They probably don't recieve much companies from others so they live their life to whatever they can. That's probably why most old people enjoy young fresh company. In stigma it said "the term stigma, then, will be used to refer to an attributr that is deeply discrediting, but should be seen that a language of relationships, not attributes, is really needed. An attributer stigmatizes opne type of possesor can confirm the usualness of another and therefore is neither creditable as a thing itself". It's kind of like you being judged by what you have like your disease etc. By that sickness you are premantenly put somewhere with your own kind. You are always reminded that yiou are a part of that "stigma".
Monday, January 3, 2011
Hw#28-Comments 2
For Raven,
The best part of what you wrote that i liked is when you compared a person who worked in meat market compared to a person who works in a mattress store and the disadvantages the person had. I thought that was very interesting. Another thing was how you had an opening sentence to introduce what we were about to read. "When someone is diagnosed with an illness their main priority consists of them taking medicine and other treatments to keep the illness down."I thought that it was a good attention grabber especially about sickness and dying. :)
For Michelle,
The lines "So their view on life is different than a healthy person’s because they just wish they were normal healthy person and instead worry how long will I live? then about what to wear to a party", i thought that it was very insightful comparing healthy people and people who have been sick all their live just trying to make it by in life. I also like how you compared your friend's sickness to how your mother said that you should "I should be thankful to God for being born a healthy baby unlike some other unlucky kids" my mom says the same thing to me all the time. The ending sentence i thought was clever and good cut-off. :)
---------------------------------------------
Younger Reader
When it come to people that are close to you in your life, family or friends, you should always take full advantage of that relationship and build on it because you never know when you might loose someone. In terms of taking advantage i don't mean taking for granted. Whether someone is in your life for a long period of time or a short one, the time period is not what counts, its the type of relationship that come out of it.
Partners
Michelle
Leah,
The line i enjoyed reading was, " She still the happy grandma that she was when i was child and i'm glad she is still there." Because it shows something we all do we remember the person in their prime not when their frail and lying on the couch, we'd rather remember when the person was healthy. Also found myself nodding my head to this, " No matter what is going on, you should make sure you have time for those love ones especially the sick and dying ones like she did with her husband." Something many people can resonate with because we don't make this priority instead our school or job, technology distract us and not every stop to smell the roses. To just stop for a minute and just spend time and will be better way to spend your time to its full.
Larche
I liked the line "Looking back i feel bad that i don't visit her as much as should because one day something can happen to her and i can't tell her what i wanted." because it showed me that you didn't want to have any regrets about the relationship you have with your grandmother. That you didn't want to disconnect yourself from her as she's with Alzheimer's. That you want to cherish every moment you have left with her which is important to you because life is not guaranteed to anyone.
The best part of what you wrote that i liked is when you compared a person who worked in meat market compared to a person who works in a mattress store and the disadvantages the person had. I thought that was very interesting. Another thing was how you had an opening sentence to introduce what we were about to read. "When someone is diagnosed with an illness their main priority consists of them taking medicine and other treatments to keep the illness down."I thought that it was a good attention grabber especially about sickness and dying. :)
For Michelle,
The lines "So their view on life is different than a healthy person’s because they just wish they were normal healthy person and instead worry how long will I live? then about what to wear to a party", i thought that it was very insightful comparing healthy people and people who have been sick all their live just trying to make it by in life. I also like how you compared your friend's sickness to how your mother said that you should "I should be thankful to God for being born a healthy baby unlike some other unlucky kids" my mom says the same thing to me all the time. The ending sentence i thought was clever and good cut-off. :)
---------------------------------------------
Younger Reader
When it come to people that are close to you in your life, family or friends, you should always take full advantage of that relationship and build on it because you never know when you might loose someone. In terms of taking advantage i don't mean taking for granted. Whether someone is in your life for a long period of time or a short one, the time period is not what counts, its the type of relationship that come out of it.
Partners
Michelle
Leah,
The line i enjoyed reading was, " She still the happy grandma that she was when i was child and i'm glad she is still there." Because it shows something we all do we remember the person in their prime not when their frail and lying on the couch, we'd rather remember when the person was healthy. Also found myself nodding my head to this, " No matter what is going on, you should make sure you have time for those love ones especially the sick and dying ones like she did with her husband." Something many people can resonate with because we don't make this priority instead our school or job, technology distract us and not every stop to smell the roses. To just stop for a minute and just spend time and will be better way to spend your time to its full.
Larche
I liked the line "Looking back i feel bad that i don't visit her as much as should because one day something can happen to her and i can't tell her what i wanted." because it showed me that you didn't want to have any regrets about the relationship you have with your grandmother. That you didn't want to disconnect yourself from her as she's with Alzheimer's. That you want to cherish every moment you have left with her which is important to you because life is not guaranteed to anyone.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
HW#27 - Visiting an unwell person
Over the break, I visited my grandmother who has Alzheimers. I haven't seen her in a long time so it was weird seeing her after a couple years. When i walked into the house she was laying on the bed not doing much. She was watching television, pretty much relaxing. My dad had told me previously that she had been in and out the hospital. When i saw, i felt like she kind of looked the same when i saw her about 8 years ago just a little lifeless. She had been sick for a long time, i think she just adjusted to the situation. Also being that she is old. When i walked into the room she didn't remeber what my name was and who i was. I guess it being so many years or because she had the disease.
She wasn't really talking to me. I had to speak in spanish but that wasn't really helping neither. I was making small talk here and there. I was looking at her body and she was very skinny and looked very frail. She seemed to just deal with the fact that she is sick because she can't do anything about it. She still the happy grandma that she was when i was child and i'm glad she is still there. She smiled a few times when i was talking like she was happy. Looking back on the book, to seeing my grandma i will always love her, i don't understand in the story she didn't feel the same. Just cause you don't see somebody for a long period time doesn't mean you should forget about them. I think she wanted to let go what she had left on the islands but to me honestly i can't let go my own family.
Looking back i feel bad that i don't visit her as much as should because one day something can happen to her and i can't tell her what i wanted. I made sure that i got everything out before i left her. I took back to what Beth had said that "time is important". No matter what is going on, you should make sure you have time for those love ones especially the sick and dying ones like she did with her husband. I thought that was important aspect.
She wasn't really talking to me. I had to speak in spanish but that wasn't really helping neither. I was making small talk here and there. I was looking at her body and she was very skinny and looked very frail. She seemed to just deal with the fact that she is sick because she can't do anything about it. She still the happy grandma that she was when i was child and i'm glad she is still there. She smiled a few times when i was talking like she was happy. Looking back on the book, to seeing my grandma i will always love her, i don't understand in the story she didn't feel the same. Just cause you don't see somebody for a long period time doesn't mean you should forget about them. I think she wanted to let go what she had left on the islands but to me honestly i can't let go my own family.
Looking back i feel bad that i don't visit her as much as should because one day something can happen to her and i can't tell her what i wanted. I made sure that i got everything out before i left her. I took back to what Beth had said that "time is important". No matter what is going on, you should make sure you have time for those love ones especially the sick and dying ones like she did with her husband. I thought that was important aspect.
HW#26 - Looking back & forward in unit
1.) What really goes on behind closed doors of health care
2.) How differently the health care is in America, Canada, and Europe. America seems the most money hungry of them all.
3.)Just cause you have health care doesn't mean you always benefit from everything.
4.)I learned from the perpective of love one dying and how it was different to how i saw views of illness and dying.
The first movie we saw about how the health care was really intriguing. I didn't really know about the health care situation till actually seeing what other people go through and how it all started. I thought it was very interesting how the doctors in Europe just automatically did their job without getting paid upfront as they do in America and just simply help the ill people because it's their job not just for the money. In America people are just so money hungry and greedy not caring about anybody else and their problem which is the problem.
Another source that was very helpful was when the lady came in to talk about her husband who had pasted away. It settled well with me because you were able to hear the story of how he started off to his last breathe which was interesting. She talked about talking to a Buddha and doing different techniques to not try and save him but keeping those positive thoughts. Not a lot of people i know go to visit buddhas but talk to a priest or say prayers most often. It was something different i never heard before.
In the book that i read, My Brother by Jamaica Kincaid, I learned that not everybody is going to be there for you even if you are sick and everybody won't love you just cause your family. Where Jamaica grew up and where her brother was living if you got AIDS you were automatically forgotten as if you had died already. I thought that that was pretty harsh and just selfish on their part. Also the author didn't really know how she felt about her brother's death. One day she wouldn't know if she loved him and the next day, she didn't know how to feel. I found it very confusing but also that not everybody thinks the same way we should typically feel or say.
2.) How differently the health care is in America, Canada, and Europe. America seems the most money hungry of them all.
3.)Just cause you have health care doesn't mean you always benefit from everything.
4.)I learned from the perpective of love one dying and how it was different to how i saw views of illness and dying.
The first movie we saw about how the health care was really intriguing. I didn't really know about the health care situation till actually seeing what other people go through and how it all started. I thought it was very interesting how the doctors in Europe just automatically did their job without getting paid upfront as they do in America and just simply help the ill people because it's their job not just for the money. In America people are just so money hungry and greedy not caring about anybody else and their problem which is the problem.
Another source that was very helpful was when the lady came in to talk about her husband who had pasted away. It settled well with me because you were able to hear the story of how he started off to his last breathe which was interesting. She talked about talking to a Buddha and doing different techniques to not try and save him but keeping those positive thoughts. Not a lot of people i know go to visit buddhas but talk to a priest or say prayers most often. It was something different i never heard before.
In the book that i read, My Brother by Jamaica Kincaid, I learned that not everybody is going to be there for you even if you are sick and everybody won't love you just cause your family. Where Jamaica grew up and where her brother was living if you got AIDS you were automatically forgotten as if you had died already. I thought that that was pretty harsh and just selfish on their part. Also the author didn't really know how she felt about her brother's death. One day she wouldn't know if she loved him and the next day, she didn't know how to feel. I found it very confusing but also that not everybody thinks the same way we should typically feel or say.
Monday, December 20, 2010
HW#25 - Response to Sicko
1.)Not everybody in the United States can afford health care and at that do not meet the certain requirements to recieve it. There have been many causes where people do not recieve medical assistant because of their well being and some end of dying because of the health care rules and obligations which in the end benefits them and only them. The health companies recieve loads and loads of money from rejecting people which saves the money and they take it. Even people who have health care run into technical difficulties. Not everything is guartaneed. In Canada they recieve a whole lot of medical attention no matter what unlike the U.S. and at cheap rates. No matter what your condition is you will be seen and helped. Just like Canada, In Europe no matter who you are, what color you are are you will be treated if you sick and on top of that it is free. The doctors are at your door to help with anything with any circumstances you are in.
2.) -Even the poorest people in Britain are healthier than the wealthest people in America.
-For every Congressmen there are four health care members
Both of these evidences were important towards Michael Moore's thesis because in American Society lots of the congressmen and health members are teaming up to make themselves wealthier while there are people in need of health issues and it causing them to become more sick and die. Britain, people are getting more help than most americans and they are healthier. Michael Moore's is saying that as americans we don't the treatment we are needed and we are spending lots and lots of money on unneccesary things.
C&D (Not Done)
3.) While watching the movie, i didn't know that you had to meet different requirements in order to qualify to get health insurance. I thought that was unfair to a lot of people and limited very few and at that even if you have health care you might recieve everything you need. I've had health care all my life and got help everytime i've been sick and needed assistant but im still woundering all they really telling and giving me everything i need in order to saty healthy. For example, there were these people who had these sicknesses and their health care said it was just "experimental" not much of a big deal and one lady actully died. I was just in shock. The story of the daughter who wasn't going to get the sugery to get her ear implant reminded me of the story of the little boy who died from eating the beef because both parents were defending their children. In the end the father was able to get his daughter's help by exposing the health company. It's funny how quickly people change their mind when people will find out the true. I never really thought health care industry was that bad until seeing that video especially comparing America to Cananda and Europe. It makes me want to move to Europe and recieve health care there because i know i would be guarauntee help when i am ill.
2.) -Even the poorest people in Britain are healthier than the wealthest people in America.
-For every Congressmen there are four health care members
Both of these evidences were important towards Michael Moore's thesis because in American Society lots of the congressmen and health members are teaming up to make themselves wealthier while there are people in need of health issues and it causing them to become more sick and die. Britain, people are getting more help than most americans and they are healthier. Michael Moore's is saying that as americans we don't the treatment we are needed and we are spending lots and lots of money on unneccesary things.
C&D (Not Done)
3.) While watching the movie, i didn't know that you had to meet different requirements in order to qualify to get health insurance. I thought that was unfair to a lot of people and limited very few and at that even if you have health care you might recieve everything you need. I've had health care all my life and got help everytime i've been sick and needed assistant but im still woundering all they really telling and giving me everything i need in order to saty healthy. For example, there were these people who had these sicknesses and their health care said it was just "experimental" not much of a big deal and one lady actully died. I was just in shock. The story of the daughter who wasn't going to get the sugery to get her ear implant reminded me of the story of the little boy who died from eating the beef because both parents were defending their children. In the end the father was able to get his daughter's help by exposing the health company. It's funny how quickly people change their mind when people will find out the true. I never really thought health care industry was that bad until seeing that video especially comparing America to Cananda and Europe. It makes me want to move to Europe and recieve health care there because i know i would be guarauntee help when i am ill.
HW#24 - Illness & Dying Book, Part 3
Jamaica Kincaid returns to Antigua to find out her brother is dying of AIDS. While there she is dealing with her mother who she has hatred towards her all her life. Jamaica gets connections into getting her brother medicine in order for him to get live longer. Her brother takes the medication and starts to feel better and does all his old things that he used to do. While commuting back and forth to her home in Chicago and her carribbean home Antigua, Jamaica reflects back on her past life of when she was a child to when her brother came to be. She talks about how her mother dislike the memory she had and the books she read to her brother committing crimes, having unprotected sex, and drugs.
When Jamaica returns home to go to her brother's funeral she doesn't feel any kind of love for him but just sympathy as if he was somebody else. She talks about the death of a previous young boy who died and how his funeral was much different from her brother's and her relationship with her brother's father. She saw her brother's body and thought he looked nothing like himself but just a figure. Later when she returns back to Chicago getting her book together, she finds out from a woman whom she met in an AIDS group that her brother was gay and he was living a secret life to what other people thought about him.
1.)I felt i hated my mother, and even worse, i felt she hated me, too; my brother Devon, the one dying just then at that moment, was one year old and i did not wish him dead; i only wished that he had never been born. (Pg.141)
The author i think felt like her brother messed up her whole life because of his existant. He was the reason for all the trouble that she had been having and will continue to have with her family especially her mother.
2.)My friend Bud said to me her found it strange the way people in Antigua regard illness, that when a person is ill no one mentions it, no one pays a visit; but if the person should die, there is a big outpouring of people at the funeral. (Pg.146)
When i read this i thought the same thing why is it that when the person is dying noboyd cares and ingores the person knowing they are going to die but when they pass away already thousands of people quickly go to see the dead person as if they sort of cared about them.
3.)And my brother died, for he kept dying; each time i remebered that he had died it was as if he had just at that moment died, and the whole experience of it would begin again; my brother had died and i didn't love him; or, at any rate, i didn't love him in the way that i had come to understand love. (Pg.148)
She never loved her brother. I think she has confused feelings about her brother and she doesn't know if she should love for him or just feel sympathetic. I find that weird because you should love your siblings family in general.You should always have their back.
I think that if your family is dying or really sick you should always be supportive of them no matter the circumstances that they are in and to put the issues you have with others to the side. I don't think that she should blame her brother for the things that happened in her life because everything happens for a reason and i don' think it's cause her brother was born. Its just something that happen. Overall in the book if you had AIDS you were immediately cut out of everyone's life until you are physically died which is pretty harsh in my opinion. I think the book was pretty good.
When Jamaica returns home to go to her brother's funeral she doesn't feel any kind of love for him but just sympathy as if he was somebody else. She talks about the death of a previous young boy who died and how his funeral was much different from her brother's and her relationship with her brother's father. She saw her brother's body and thought he looked nothing like himself but just a figure. Later when she returns back to Chicago getting her book together, she finds out from a woman whom she met in an AIDS group that her brother was gay and he was living a secret life to what other people thought about him.
1.)I felt i hated my mother, and even worse, i felt she hated me, too; my brother Devon, the one dying just then at that moment, was one year old and i did not wish him dead; i only wished that he had never been born. (Pg.141)
The author i think felt like her brother messed up her whole life because of his existant. He was the reason for all the trouble that she had been having and will continue to have with her family especially her mother.
2.)My friend Bud said to me her found it strange the way people in Antigua regard illness, that when a person is ill no one mentions it, no one pays a visit; but if the person should die, there is a big outpouring of people at the funeral. (Pg.146)
When i read this i thought the same thing why is it that when the person is dying noboyd cares and ingores the person knowing they are going to die but when they pass away already thousands of people quickly go to see the dead person as if they sort of cared about them.
3.)And my brother died, for he kept dying; each time i remebered that he had died it was as if he had just at that moment died, and the whole experience of it would begin again; my brother had died and i didn't love him; or, at any rate, i didn't love him in the way that i had come to understand love. (Pg.148)
She never loved her brother. I think she has confused feelings about her brother and she doesn't know if she should love for him or just feel sympathetic. I find that weird because you should love your siblings family in general.You should always have their back.
I think that if your family is dying or really sick you should always be supportive of them no matter the circumstances that they are in and to put the issues you have with others to the side. I don't think that she should blame her brother for the things that happened in her life because everything happens for a reason and i don' think it's cause her brother was born. Its just something that happen. Overall in the book if you had AIDS you were immediately cut out of everyone's life until you are physically died which is pretty harsh in my opinion. I think the book was pretty good.
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