About four years ago, I met a woman who could make anyone smile just by talking to them. The first day I volunteered at our local hospital, the director of volunteers put me on the geriatrics unit, playing bingo. The first time I saw her, she came into the room saying hello to everyone, I could see her table was the most sociable. After everyone settled down I started calling numbers until, they started yelling at me to be louder, hold up the cards more, or help them because they dropped one of their pieces on the floor. Until, T.B. decided to speak up and say, “can you stop yelling at the girl it’s her first day, now sweetie go ahead.” From then on she has always had a special place in my heart, kind of like another grandmother. T.B. has lived in the hospital for five years, so every once in a while I go sit with her for a couple of hours and just talk to her. When I interviewed her, it took her about two hours to talk about her life story.
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is now eighty-seven years old, or as she says, “old as dirt.” Gerontologists would classify her as old-old meaning, “older adults (generally, those older than 75) who suffer from physical, mental, or social deficits” (Berger, 2014). She said that she is obese which could be classified as secondary aging. Secondary aging is the, “specific physical illnesses or conditions that become more common with aging but are cause by health habits, genes and other influences that vary from person to person” (Berger, 2014). Also recently, she was diagnosed with neuropathy. A sign of secondary aging, which is a degeneration of the nerve endings which can cause sharp pains and numbing/tingling of the hands and feet. Through primary aging, her vision, hearing, and mobility are suffering. Primary aging is the, “universal and irreversible physical changes that occur in al living creatures as they grow older” (Berger, 2014). T.B. has also complained about how many medications she has to take each day, also known as
is now eighty-seven years old, or as she says, “old as dirt.” Gerontologists would classify her as old-old meaning, “older adults (generally, those older than 75) who suffer from physical, mental, or social deficits” (Berger, 2014). She said that she is obese which could be classified as secondary aging. Secondary aging is the, “specific physical illnesses or conditions that become more common with aging but are cause by health habits, genes and other influences that vary from person to person” (Berger, 2014). Also recently, she was diagnosed with neuropathy. A sign of secondary aging, which is a degeneration of the nerve endings which can cause sharp pains and numbing/tingling of the hands and feet. Through primary aging, her vision, hearing, and mobility are suffering. Primary aging is the, “universal and irreversible physical changes that occur in al living creatures as they grow older” (Berger, 2014). T.B. has also complained about how many medications she has to take each day, also known as