Introduction
As opposed to the earlier perceptions that older people encounter massive challenges, Loe acknowledges that they practically navigate those living obstacles, making them stay independent and healthy. Old age is not a social problem, as the elders have experiences for improving their former versions, thus being connected and comfortable. Compared to the youths, despite being complicated, the senior citizens are lively and engage in creative strategies to make their aging manageable and meaningful (Loe, 2011). In that case, they control their daily activities adequately, including but not limited to doctor appointments, grocery shopping, sustaining autonomy, and establishing networks with colleagues. Significantly, they act as role models, ask for assistance, prepare for their death, live in moderation, take time to care for others and provide indispensable knowledge and wisdom to people across various dimensions of life. The paper will provide an in-depth analysis of primary issues associated with public health and populace aging, the control of older citizens, and the essentiality of social capital in keeping dignity and autonomy.
Key Issues Linked with Public Health and Populace Aging
Several key issues are associated with public health and population aging. The older citizens tend to face the financial insecurity created by the lack of opportunities in their later years. As a result, they encounter extensive stereotypes prompting them to marginalization and loneliness. The statistical report indicates that older white men above 85 years have an increased suicidal rate than their young counterparts (Loe, 2011). Despite that, the aged can find it challenging to establish the right care provider, and they suffer from chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, and cancer.
The accessibility of the healthcare facilities can be challenging, and the elders depend highly on the medical professionals for medication and other forms of support coordination. Another primary issue encountered by the elderly is the end-of-life preparations, whereby they do not go through all the stages of death appropriately and rely on other people and money for support (Loe, 2011). The declined education level and socioeconomic factors deteriorate the functional and cognitive prowess among those beyond 85 years. At the same time, the elderly experience physical issues in their advanced age, making them have difficulty walking, dressing, and walking.
Everyday Lived Experiences
The daily lived encounters tend to change drastically with age. The categories of such experience include sustaining life through harmony, feelings of hope, acceptance of boundaries and limitations with aging, bodily change, and the downward spiral of the progressive age viewpoint. The beyond the 85 tend to worry less and accommodate themselves positively. The older people acknowledge that they are getting older and are no longer younger, and they engage in the activities that make them active. In that case, as the data reports indicate, as America continues to become more industrialized, the lifespan of those 85 years increases to nearly 6.8 years for women, while men’s approximated escalation is 6.7 (Loe, 2011). Therefore, they involve themselves in busy schedules, take care of themselves, and engage in various activities, including shopping, dressing, and cooking. Diseases such as Alzheimer’s, stroke, influenza, cancer, and chronic respiratory diseases are inevitable for older adults, but they work on managing them effectively.
Upon witnessing the death of their loved ones (children and spouses), individuals of advanced ages register in self-care and try to avoid depression and accept it as a natural event. Thus, they take massive time to prepare for their death, which they do not fear. Embracing hospitalization and ensuring that older people die at a place of choice is a crucial element (Loe, 2011). The 85 and beyond tend to live a respectable and honest life, whereby they accept the realities of living and wish happiness to their families, and they do not like bothering them.
Besides, senior citizens have increased life humor and hope, having work experience that prepared them to where they are present. One of the essential factors in health and longevity is humor, which acts as a coping mechanism for aging. Older people have increased faith, whereby they pragmatically handle loss and age-based challenges. Therefore, hilarity drives older adults to avoid discomfort and diffuse hard situations, together with avoiding conflicts, which improves the feeling of having cohesion and solidarity (Loe, 2011). It enables making life manageable by connecting the past and present; enhancing health and social participation; expressing emotions, anxieties, needs, and identity, cementing social bonds; and responding to aging and ageism.
Control Over Life
To a greater extent, yes, I agree that those 85 and older remain totally in control over their lives. Most elders always ask for other people’s assistance as a strategy for retaining authority. The phenomenon does not prevent independence. They make individual decisions without involving others to ensure that their health is sustained. In that case, these elderly individuals have a tremendous capability and power to employ, fire, and direct home care aides. Most of them proclaim that losing control amounts to losing self-sense and belonging, engendering dignity reduction. Having supremacy over their live activities, including grandparenting, enables senior adults to have advanced feelings and participate in healthy behaviors that minimize suicidal thoughts, stress, and depression (Loe, 2011). One advantage of living a long is learning from other people’s mistakes. For instance, most of these elders have seen friends or having themselves succumbing to identity theft or exploitation. Similarly, while narrating such encounters, they do it with great concern regarding others who might prey on their anticipated vulnerability. Most people consider those older adults will die with a massive amount of cash, which they currently do not require.
The elders tend to have massive regulation of their money and act keen to avoid scams and frauds, making them being institutionalized in case of financial problems. The general culture of fear and negative life experiences contributes to elders’ escalated desire to retain dominance. The elders do not entirely engage in total overdependence while approaching close family relatives for support to enable them to acquire the required resources due to their jurisdiction. The control over life tends to reduce the mortality rate of those 85 and beyond. When the elderly require services, like new furniture, or cannot shower independently, they develop a routine and strategic framework to ensure they pay for the personalized support system or negotiate it for free (Loe, 2011). The elderly demand supremacy over their wellbeing and determine what innovative care models, such as the Green House, to prioritize. The living environment and healthcare are essential for elders as they tend to do away with institutionalization. The social and physical location gives older people the ambiance to undertake their daily activities without interruption effectively.
Social Capital Essentiality in Maintaining Autonomy and Dignity
Social capital refers to the network of interactions among individuals living and working in a given community, spearheading it to function effectively. It helps enhance the welfare of older adults by upgrading their trust, norms, values, shared identity, and mutual relationships. People with minimal constraints, bonds, and obligations tend to have a fewer likelihood of committing heinous acts like suicide. Working together enables the attainment of human rights, whereby elderly citizens acquire personal dignity and autonomy. This is because principles of non-discrimination and equality are achieved (Loe, 2011). The public and private service providers collaborate effectively to eliminate prejudice and discrimination and support all the vulnerable groups, such as those 85 and beyond. Social capital drives sustaining dignity and autonomy as the older citizens receive federal social security benefits due to the stakeholders working together to improve their lives. The phenomenon indicates that the elders have no over-dependency on their family members and relatives as they can access funds for their ailment treatment.
Some older people face exclusion and are isolated, but having a social network minimizes insecurity and obstacles by advocating for policies that promote service delivery for susceptible groups. Elderly individuals having interactions of social and religious obligations live stress-free due to the offered social ties structure that gives meaning to lives. State entities support collaborative programs by working together, ensuring no institutionalization of those beyond 85 years. Many elders relate aging in place to staying at home to control their daily lives, helping them preserve autonomy and dignity (Loe, 2011). Working together enables stakeholders to connect and reduce hospitalization and healthcare costs. A vast amount of literature has showcased that social networks can be advantageous across all life courses. Over time, the communal ties values substantially accrue, resulting in rigorous benefits.
Social capital ensures that older people experience profound behavioral, physiological, and physiological effects. Regarding the psychosocial level, the social networks and friendship relationships give the older people escalated command over their lives, access to care, retrieve resources, and develop a sense of belonging. The elders decide when to start and end their daily activities and design flexible schedules that fit them, which uphold their autonomy and dignity. The availability of social networks can guide older people when they encounter challenges by making them scale back and weigh options on whether to hire aides or tour healthcare facilities (Loe, 2011). Through mutual integration, the elders can mobilize massive resources and develop the freedom to make essential changes in their lives. Compared to a family member or a spouse, comradeships have a greater impact on health. Social networks engender a buffering influence and shape physiological health experiences regarding stress, loss, and discomfort.
Those above 85 years develop much-needed liberty and preserve dignity, whereby there is a declined rate of mortality and morbidity through social capital. The social networks enable the attainment of quality immunity health, standardized sleep, low depression, and improved memory. The older individuals surrounding themselves with friends acquire good behaviors, making them have extensive happiness (Loe, 2011). In that case, they have the autonomy to choose what they like from friends and neglect unhealthy conduct, including smoking, that deteriorates their wellbeing. The elderly recognize themselves as the role models in society and need to preserve their hard-earned dignity over the years. When faced with isolation, the social ties structure gives them a reason to continue living by easing the transition and sharing resources when faced with loss.
Social capital enables elders to choose relationships as some may be problematic for emotional and physical wellbeing. The social capital can make them join communal organizations, which accumulate social advantages over time, like improving their socioeconomic status. The social networks enable senior citizens to make informed and uncoerced decisions regarding what friendship or social groups to join based on the merits derived to enhance their longevity. There should be key policy initiatives established to enable the elderly not to feel more isolated while making connections (Loe, 2011). Autonomy can be realized when elders live in moderation, care for themselves, and design spaces that fit their demands. Even though social capital can act as a form of asking for help, having autonomy helps the elderly maintain their dignity. When seniors feel friendships are non-beneficial, making them lose self-sense, it considerably translates to a reduction of nobility. However, learning other people’s mistakes during social networking helps them adjust for an advanced lifespan. Despite resistance faced, living among peers assists the old to appreciate discrepancies across ages and reconsider maturity processes.
Supporting Elders in Building and Utilizing Social Capital
From the public health perspective, there is adequate support for elders in developing and using social capital. The nurses and other medical professionals have established the urge to spearhead fair and equal access to healthcare. They have drafted policies that promote social capital building at all levels of the community, giving a crucial avenue for improved care delivery and strengthening health systems. Older people tend to experience isolation, inadequate resources, and chronic ailments. Established regulations have included having Medicaid and Medicare systems that confer earned merits in financial remittances. Healthcare social securities enable the elderly to use social capital to acquire medical support to cater to their physical and cognitive wellbeing (Loe, 2011). Through networks and interactions, more resources are released to the remote areas, whereby they can interact with nurses offering them support. In that case, qualified personnel can administer working daily schedules for the elderly to improve their longevity and tackle aging obstacles.
A social network can engender a saving spirit, whereby the older people do not encounter stress due to socioeconomic factors. Notably, health services can be substantially draining to the pockets of senior citizens. Driving long-term healthcare, particularly for those older people living below the poverty line, can receive public funding to cover the care. The public health sector advocates for the elderly to continue joining welfare organizations to make them not feel discriminated against and excluded (Loe, 2011). The decentralization of funds through interactions of organizations, both private and public healthcare system, help in identifying diverse issues encountered by the elderly. This ranges from preparing for the death after losing a loved one, disability, adversities in managing daily routine, and fear of being institutionalized. The elders can seek assistance through social capital while still maintaining their dignity and autonomy.
The special needs variation among older citizens requires full attention from public health. The nurses, after medical examination, are mandated to give them a sense of hope and belonging. As a result, senior individuals believe they are well physically, physiologically, and mentally. The absence of healthcare initiatives driving social capital can trigger older adults to engage in resource mobilization, which is difficult. Expanding system care options and embracing psychosocial support at home can reduce structural inequalities exacerbated in old age (Loe, 2011). The social capital building can contribute to the discipline of health promotion by supplementing new knowledge on how interaction interventions may be adequately developed to meet older people’s needs. The bonding, linking, and bridging aspects help pinpoint the damaging and beneficial activities among the target group. Public health service providers need to strategize effectively in identifying the under-represented elders in the community programming to benefit from allocated resources in coping with aging effectively.
Conclusion
Even though aging in place sounds like more about autonomy, it is advisable to embrace interdependency as those at 85 are more vulnerable to loneliness, isolation, and depression. However, the elders have extensive lived experiences across diverse dimensions of life, enabling them to cope with ageism adversities adequately. The country’s industrialization ensures the availability of a technological healthcare system, which is advantageous to older individuals for treatment, thus increasing their lifespan. Losing supremacy over daily activities can make the elderly vulnerable to exploitation, face financial constraints, and lose their freedom. Nevertheless, older people living lonely is not a problem, provided there is a feasible social capital whereby they can learn and adopt good behaviors. Social network ties are crucial for senior citizens to sustain autonomy and dignity. Most initiatives and policies have been implemented to support the older people in building and using social capital, which has fair and equitable accessibility of resources geared towards meeting their special needs. The mutual interactions trigger them to ask for help from experienced health practitioners while receiving funding from the government.
Reference
Loe, M. (2011). Aging our way: Lessons for living from 85 and beyond. OUP USA.