This was great! I enjoyed reading about how you tried different solutions to help with Nina's sense of feeling helpless - yes, letting her chop veggies with a sharp knife was not wise, but assigning her peeling duty absolutely made sense!
The sense of learned helplessness is a huge problem in assisted living communities....there are some places that are pioneering better ways forward in that simply introducing plants into residents' rooms has infused a newfound sense of responsibility and meaning: "I need to water and care for my plants!" Super fascinating stuff.
Thanks for reading and commenting Niki. I would love to hear about any ways people find to bring a sense of purpose to the elderly as their capabilities shrink and shift. I wish I had more ideas in my arsenal then!
If you want, there's a fantastic book called Being Mortal, by a Boston doctor, Atul Gawande. The whole book centers upon the medicalization of modern society. And there's also a fascinating and large chunk of the book dedicated to assisted living facilities, specifically a few based in Boston that are (or were at the time) experimenting with various methods to improve the residents' quality of life. (Introducing animals, pets, plants, assigning the residents who were able small jobs...etc!)
This was great! I enjoyed reading about how you tried different solutions to help with Nina's sense of feeling helpless - yes, letting her chop veggies with a sharp knife was not wise, but assigning her peeling duty absolutely made sense!
The sense of learned helplessness is a huge problem in assisted living communities....there are some places that are pioneering better ways forward in that simply introducing plants into residents' rooms has infused a newfound sense of responsibility and meaning: "I need to water and care for my plants!" Super fascinating stuff.
Thanks for reading and commenting Niki. I would love to hear about any ways people find to bring a sense of purpose to the elderly as their capabilities shrink and shift. I wish I had more ideas in my arsenal then!
If you want, there's a fantastic book called Being Mortal, by a Boston doctor, Atul Gawande. The whole book centers upon the medicalization of modern society. And there's also a fascinating and large chunk of the book dedicated to assisted living facilities, specifically a few based in Boston that are (or were at the time) experimenting with various methods to improve the residents' quality of life. (Introducing animals, pets, plants, assigning the residents who were able small jobs...etc!)
Thank you! I have heard of that book but did not know it was about that. I’ll definitely read it. Great info!
Wonderful, Edie. Thank you.
Thanks for reading!
Thanks for reading!