Gerontology Assignment

Gerontology Assignment

[Name of the Writer]

[Name of the Institution]

Gerontology Assignment

Q 1. In every community, there are a number of people or workers that are working to make society a better place to live. These individuals include social workers, community workers, volunteers, especially doctors and physicians. Doctors, medical practitioners, and physicians, no matter working in a general capacity or providing their services in a specific capacity, always act a blessing and a ray of hope for the general public, especially the resident of that community. One class of specialists in the category of specialist medical practitioners is the gerontologists. Gerontologists study the social, psychological, cognitive and biological aspects of aging in a society and check its links with the various dimensions of society.

Contrary to a misconception, a gerontologist a medical physician or a medical practitioner, who, just like any other medical practitioner, specialize in the diagnosing, treating and prevention of various disorders and disability in the general public (Brink, 2014). The only difference that lies between the services of other medical professionals and the services of a gerontologist is in the age difference of the patients. In the case of the gerontologist, the services of the medical service provider are limited to the old age people.

Regarding the assessment of the plan of creating an age-friendly community, as a gerontologist, I would comment that it is an excellent initiative. It is extremely necessary to take care of the aging community of the society as well in addition to the development of the youth, as the old age people have given a considerable amount of their life and energy to the development and progress of the nation. This initiative should have been taken long before and can be successfully implemented by taking multiple measures like improving health and safety measures and making the housing plans much more affordable and friendly to live.

Q 2. As established earlier, a gerontologist is a medical professional and he or she has to perform the same duties just like any other medical practitioner, the only difference lies in the age of the patients that a gerontologist deals with. A gerontologist, also known as a geriatrics specialist, deals specifically with the people of old age. His or her duties specifically comprise of taking care of old people above the age of fifty years. The people include the patients with every kind of diseases, for example, terminal diseases like cancer, or old age disease specifically related to old age like Alzheimer’s. These specialists also have to deal with the people suffering from disabilities ranging from minor type to major disabilities. Gerontologists are mostly found in old age homes and nursing care centers for old people.

While dealing with the patients suffering from disabilities, a gerontologist should take special heed about the age group of the patients. The patients suffering from mild to moderate disabilities are easy to handle as compared to the people suffering from severe disabilities. These disabilities are either physical or mental in nature. As per various medical reports, people more than 3.8 million adult Canadians are currently suffering from various form of medical disabilities (de Jong Gierveld, Keating, & Fast, (2015).

A gerontologist should formulate and implement various strategies in order to cope up with these disabilities and help the adults deal with them in order to lead a better and healthy life. These strategies include introducing various aids that could help them in dealing with those disabilities like a walking stick or a metal walking aid in case of a physical disability. Helping adults with mental disabilities may include the development of various learning abilities by introducing various small mental exercises.

References

Brink, T. L. (2014). Clinical gerontology: A guide to assessment and intervention. Routledge.

de Jong Gierveld, J., Keating, N., & Fast, J. E. (2015). Determinants of loneliness among older adults in Canada. Canadian Journal on Aging/La Revue canadienne du vieillissement, 34(2), 125-136.