Working with Vulnerable Adults Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Working with Vulnerable Adults - Essay Example Then the study goes on to discuss the oppressive and the anti-oppressive situations that these venerable adults have to face. This is done with under the heading points of age, gender, sexuality and class. Afterwards, the essay discusses the role(s) of a social worker in helping senior people. At the end of the essay a brief conclusion is provided. Mr. Richards is 86 years old and has recently come back from the hospital after he suffered a massive stroke about a month ago. Home for him and his wife (84 years old) of 58 years is a nursing house in rural England. The nursing home is a government institution for the elderly and I happen to be a social worker in the facility. Mr. Richard grew up on a small farm and worked at the local post-office for a number of decades whereas Mrs. Richards worked as a primary school teacher. They had two children who grew-up and soon moved away to the city. However, Mr. and Mrs. Richards preferred to stay in the same town where they had worked and lived all their lives. But, due to Mr. Richards advance arthritis and heart problems and his wife's diabetic condition, they could no longer maintain and keep their home. Their children didn't have the resources or the time to take care of their elderly parents. With no other option in mind, their local social worker along with their children's help slowly convinced the Richards of the merits of staying at nursing facility. However, upon arriving at the facility after selling the house and most of their belongings, the Richards soon realized that there were a number of hurdles and obstacles to living in a nursing home that they had not anticipated. But, on the other hand, there is no question of going back and living an independent life. With the rapid speed with which the world is changing it is not possible to live in this world without updating one's education, knowledge and life-style on a daily basis. In other words even the young people of today constantly have to update almost every aspect of their daily lives. This automatically brings us to the point that if the youngsters of today have to update their lives at such a constant basis, what would the elderly do But, on the other hand life expectancy is rapidly increasing; therefore, we cannot simply expect our elderly to pass away. According to Than (2006), the increase in the life span of a person simply implies that the time of death has been m oved forward. This of course does not mean that the person will not die. He/She will, only it will take a few more years. Never in the history of mankind have we discussed ageing and old age processes as ardently as we have begun to do so now. This fact has been clearly mentioned in the direct citation, which is given as follows; "We clearly live in an era characterized by the aging of our population. Low birth rates and increasing life expectancy are leading to dramatic shifts in the age structure. By the year 2030, after most of the baby boomers have reached old age, it's projected that one out of every five Americans will be 65 years of age or older. And steady increases are expected in the numbers of persons at the more advanced ages-the "oldest-old" or those 85 years and older-who are most likely