Successful Aging Interview
The person I interviewed was Stasia Zedilko, a 79 year old woman living in Las Vegas. I met Stasia by chance, when she came into my work one day, shaking and struggling to walk, with concern of her health and safety related to encounters of elder abuse. I work at the Center for Social Justice on campus, and she stumbled upon the building I work in when trying to find directions to a resource that could help her. Stasia lives alone here in Vegas, with no support system aside from a distant relative in Connecticut, where she was born and raised before coming out to Vegas to pursue her business related career. She never had kids, or got married, because she wasn’t interested in either. She has always been fairly independent …show more content…
She was sure to make it clear that she has the money to care for herself, especially medically, but felt that she was not receiving the help and care she asked for. Aside from the initial scare she had during the neck surgery, she has had doctors apparently turn her down or threaten to drop her if she asked follow up questions regarding things like her dementia medication, or side effects she has been having, and the ways in which doctors and staff members have treated her. She has, in turn, gone to see a lawyer regarding some of these things, who has told her that this seems like more than just neglect, and wouldn’t be considered malpractice, but instead seems that there is an aspect of ageism and power at play …show more content…
She did not see herself to be wise at all. In fact, the only aspect of her life she felt wise in was her career, which she never elaborated on despite the few times I asked. Her story regarding her career did seem to change each time as well, from “I owned a few small places that did well” to “I had very big businesses that were all successful.” Other than that, she felt she made more mistakes as she aged as she felt she allowed others to take advantage of her. With this, she also said she has a hard time relating to younger people because she’s worried how she will be treated. She really does want someone to write her story, which lead to another small piece of advice she had where she told me to make sure I record my life and make sure to remember it. She felt her life was extraordinary, but could not remember the details that made it so. She just knew it was. She wants it all on record, but as she doesn’t know a thing about computers, she has been trying to get out and ask people, specifically college students, to help
The person I interviewed was Stasia Zedilko, a 79 year old woman living in Las Vegas. I met Stasia by chance, when she came into my work one day, shaking and struggling to walk, with concern of her health and safety related to encounters of elder abuse. I work at the Center for Social Justice on campus, and she stumbled upon the building I work in when trying to find directions to a resource that could help her. Stasia lives alone here in Vegas, with no support system aside from a distant relative in Connecticut, where she was born and raised before coming out to Vegas to pursue her business related career. She never had kids, or got married, because she wasn’t interested in either. She has always been fairly independent …show more content…
She was sure to make it clear that she has the money to care for herself, especially medically, but felt that she was not receiving the help and care she asked for. Aside from the initial scare she had during the neck surgery, she has had doctors apparently turn her down or threaten to drop her if she asked follow up questions regarding things like her dementia medication, or side effects she has been having, and the ways in which doctors and staff members have treated her. She has, in turn, gone to see a lawyer regarding some of these things, who has told her that this seems like more than just neglect, and wouldn’t be considered malpractice, but instead seems that there is an aspect of ageism and power at play …show more content…
She did not see herself to be wise at all. In fact, the only aspect of her life she felt wise in was her career, which she never elaborated on despite the few times I asked. Her story regarding her career did seem to change each time as well, from “I owned a few small places that did well” to “I had very big businesses that were all successful.” Other than that, she felt she made more mistakes as she aged as she felt she allowed others to take advantage of her. With this, she also said she has a hard time relating to younger people because she’s worried how she will be treated. She really does want someone to write her story, which lead to another small piece of advice she had where she told me to make sure I record my life and make sure to remember it. She felt her life was extraordinary, but could not remember the details that made it so. She just knew it was. She wants it all on record, but as she doesn’t know a thing about computers, she has been trying to get out and ask people, specifically college students, to help