My Elder Research Paper

Well Elder Project
Your Name: Terrie Lynn Rabaut Number of Visit: 5 .
Place of Meeting: Clients Home Time: 3:00PM .
Elder’s Initials: CD Age: 76 Sex: Female .

1. Describe Impressions, general reactions, and feelings related to 5th and final visit:

I was shocked and a little horrified to learn that my elder has not made any end of life plans. She has no will, no life insurance, no advance directive… Nothing. And she didn’t want to hear about the benefits of any of those things. She has no plans about where and how she wants to live out the remaining years of her life other than “right where she is now”. I have to say that I was extremely concerned with her Brick wall she has built around the concept of aging and dying. I do not think that my elder has accepted the fact that the only guarantee in life is that everyone will eventually die. She has also not come to terms with God and is not sure if she even believes in God, heaven, hell, reincarnation, afterlife, or any of those sort of things.

2. Explain which developmental tasks your client has met or not met:
My client has maintained a close, supportive, loving relationship with her spouse.
(I did not talk to her about sex… I felt that was intrusive) I did learn that they still sleep in the same bed because she says he snores really loud. They have had issues adjusting to life on a limited income, her husband like to buy stuff and if they don’t have the money he charges it. They both seem like they are able to perform all the ADL’s necessary for day to day life. My elder is even able to match her clothes really well considering her poor eyesight and does so without the help of her husband. My client has difficulty accepting the facts of
life.

3. Describe possible reasons specific developmental tasks have not been met:

I think my client has trouble meeting certain developmental tasks as she ages because she is not ready to accept the fact that death is inevitable. I think her parents dying at a very young age has impaired her ability to accept this fact of life. My elder has no interest in planning for the end of her life. I tried to explain the benefits of planning to her but she did not want to discuss how her planning could help her family. She simply just said that none of that was done for her so why should she do it for her loved ones… Her husband seemed completely oblivious to the whole situation and trust that she has everything taken care of. I left feeling overly concerned for them.