The Last Stretch

By Ryan Chau

Throughout the duration of my time in this workplace, I have passed through the musty hallways, unpleasant odours and cries for help. You really can’t help but empathise with them as they shuffle their feet slowly across the floor with their hunched backs and delicate physique.

There is a real sense of melancholy and eeriness when you witness an elderly resident go from being highly talkative to being bed ridden with an oxygen mask for most of the day. Through their photographs, handwriting and notes in their room, they tell intriguing stories of transition throughout their lives. It really puts things into perspective as you will see your own grandmother or grandfather. Every shift that you’re there you really want to give yourself to them as they go through perpetual health problems such as dementia, diabetes, and swallowing problems to name a few. Along with health problems, these vulnerable residents lack time. The four walls feel like they are closing in on them as the time passes. You can see their loss of freedom, loss of purpose and enjoyment from life taken from them as they sit there glaring outside the window. The lifestyle is comparable to a jail cell except without the chains and bars. Every day the tasks are the same repetitive and tedious routine.

According to AgingCare, ‘‘Lonely seniors are more likely to decline and die faster’’ [39]. However, there is still light at the end of the tunnel during times of transition and downfall.

To combat these problems, activities such as knitting groups, bingo and field trips aim to make the residents feel less isolated and lonely. There are brief moments when you will be able to witness a smile from the residents. This when a staff member enters to break the silence, you can see a small glisten in their eye and see a smile that reaches from ear to ear as they all sit in the lobby.

AgingCare suggests that, "We often don't listen enough to the people we love" [39]. We need to continue to engage with the elderly so that they do not forget what they are passionate about and ensure they do not exile themselves from the world. When frail, cold wrinkled hands make contact with your wrist and tell you ‘‘they would rather die’’ or ‘‘this is not a life to live’’, it is impossible to respond. In this period of their lives by giving a small moment of your time, it could potentially mean a lifetime for the remainder of their days in the facility. Every day there is a medicine trolley that travels room to room. It contains different coloured pills to cater for different illnesses and slow down the deterioration. Even with the medication there is still a false sense of hope that it will cure the disease completely.

It is a unique experience as there’s a misconception that the elderly look after the young but in this case, the roles have been reversed. As I walk Aina to a war veteran, to her room she wraps her arms around me and says ‘‘do not regret not doing anything you wanted to do’’. She further adds ‘‘once you are my age everything is impossible.’’ You can’t help but listen to the elderly as they have so much wisdom to offer and perspectives on life in general. Aina always makes sure she is in the right place using her hands to guide her as the other senses do not exist anymore.

At the end of the day if we were to empathise with them they are often left alone in the darkness, isolated and confused. When we encounter the frail and vulnerable, such as the elderly we could spend a brief moment to knock on their walls that they have built up over the years in the facility. Perhaps show them that there is still light at the end of the tunnel even in the last stretch of their years.

[39] Aging Care (n.d.)., Marie Botek A., The Elder Loneliness Epidemic. Retrieved 30 August 2016, https://www.agingcare.com/Articles/loneliness-in-the-elderly-151549.htm