During the pandemic, I noticed that a lot of routines that people had set up for themselves were disrupted. This led to people, especially older adults who might not work a traditional job with set hours any more, to feel displaced. During our careers, it’s very easy to tie your self esteem and feelings of self-worth to your job. As people retire, people set up routines to replace not only the time they spent at work but also the feelings of belonging that they got when working there. People build their livelihoods around this and that was all taken away during the pandemic.
Another thing I noticed was that even after the initial lockdown eased, there were still periods of time when people would need to individually self-isolate for weeks at a time due to exposures. Time when the rest of the world was doing its best to go back to normal and an unfortunate few were left out of it. I had a patient who normally spent the day in an adult memory facility and hadn’t been able to go for 14 days due to being exposed. Talking to the patients husband, I could hear his frustration and worry about the lack of interacting was having on her cognition.
One thing I really liked about the lecture was how Dr. Fullen mentioned the narratives we had surrounding our views with older adults and aging. This is something that might even be subconscious that is effecting how we view our patients but also how our patients view themselves. Recognizing that bias we and our patients have can lead to a shift in mindset that can lead to better engagement and fulfillment as our patients advance in years and hopefully age with resilience.
