YU Students For Seniors

Post 3 out of our 'Ageism, breaking it down' series!

Let's talk about internalized ageism - or how seniors perceive aging themselves!
How does society impact the way our seniors veiw themselves and what successfully aging look like!

Our next posts will be on anti-ageism, stay tuned!

Welcome friends! We are so happy you are here!
Post 2/3 in our 'Ageism" series!

Ageism as we have seen, affects so many aspects of our older adults lives.

But how does it interact with health care ?

Read our posts to learn about it and leave questions/comments if you have any!

Hello Everyone! We are so glad you are here.
This is post 1/3 in our 'Ageism, Breaking it Down' series!
In this post we talk about some social determinants of health and how Ageism impacts these.

How do you view ageism in regards to the social determinants of health? Comment below or send us a DM!

We want to acknowledge that although generally inclusive off all minorities, the impacts that ageism has can be profoundly worse when focusing on a specific minority/ethnic group.

For more information regarding minority groups, please check out the work our peers are doing!



yu

Stay tuned for more!

Welcome friends!

Today's topic - AGEISM

With the increasing population of aging adults, we as healthcare workers have to evaluate how our practices could be discriminatory against the elderly.

To start of this small post series, here is a little bit about ageism and what to look for!

Upcoming posts will include:
What ageism looks like in different social determinants, internal ageism or self-ageism, and what we can do to combat ageism in healthcare!

As always if you have questions, comments, suggestions or just want to say hi, send us a DM!

Hello everyone!

Welcome back- our next few posts are going to focus on some of our survey results, like this one!

An overwhelming amount of you said that human-health resources were a contributing factor to the poor quality of care for our seniors.

Here is a little information on where we are now, where we will be in the future if we maintain course and what can we, as figure nurses do about it!

I know many of us hate the prospect of MORE school, but a major portion of our patient population is seniors, specializing in Geriatrics, or at least receiving formal education will make us better nurses and increase our patients care !

"Life's most persistent and urgent question is: what are you doing for others?" - unknown

From our survey data we identified 3 keys themes we will be focusing on for our educational campaign:

#1: Ageism is the most prevalent form of discrimination and has cumulative effects throughout the lifespan (Ayalon & Tesch-Römer, 2017). Ageism manifests in healthcare through an absence of services, decision making, treatment options, language use and micro-aggressions.

#2: A lack of services and/or accessibility of services threatens the health and well-being of older Ontarians. Some examples include long-wait times, having to travel far distances for care and not enough long-term care beds. With the cost of living increasing, feasibly of healthcare services is also of concern.

#3: With an ageing population and more seniors requiring healthcare services, the staffing shortages are very concerning! Ontario is currently experiencing a shortage in family physicians, nurses and personal support workers.

Thank you to those of you who contributed to our survey! If you’d like to contribute, please feel free to comment below or send us a DM! 📩

Welcome friends! Swipe through this post to reado about shortages/pitfalls of the health care system and the effects they have on our seniors.

Through our survey we found some alarming results, so many of you identified some very upsetting truths about our healthcare system. Specifically how lack of resources and staff shortages impact our seniors and their care.

⚪ additional costs - a large burden on seniors care!
Seniors are often on small and fixed incomes, prescriptions aren't always covered, most seniors go without dental coverage, and to maintain independence some seniors need assistive devices, like pocket-talkers, glasses, hearing aides or ambulatory devices.
⚪ another interesting topic is transportation - some seniors are lucky enough to have family/friends to support then when it comes to transportation. Alternative transportation can be difficult to navigate and pricey!
⚪ an obvious point to consider is the lack of physicians, nurses, PSWs and other support staff.
◽ did you know "31% of Canada's seniors needing help with activities of daily living reported not receiving care during the past year because services were cancelled or limited due to the pandemic" (William's, R., et al., 2021)
⚪ with limited staff, seniors are being forced into overcrowded and ill-equipped emergency rooms, they lack routine follow up on medications, testing, and screening tools. Seniors often struggle in their community settings with little to no professional support and are often forced to rely on their family and friends.

A question for our followers: after reading our most recent posts
What would you consider as a "stepping stone" or "step 1" for reducing our seniors population of these disparities?

Williams, R., Shah, A., Doty, M., Fields, K., FitzGerald, M. (2021, September 15). The Impact of COVID-19 on Older Adults: Findings from the 2021 International Health Policy Survey of Older Adults. The Commonwealth Fund. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/surveys/2021/sep/impact-covid-19-older-adults

➡️➡️➡️ for some interesting information on seniors in Ontario and their experience with the healthcare system!

Stay tuned for more! Please feel free to DM us with any questions about our content.

Swipe ➡️ to see!

Ontario is home to 2.3 older adults who represent nearly 16% of the provincial population. These community members aged 65 and older vary greatly in their life experiences, access to resources, and health statuses. While the needs of older Ontarians differ significantly person-to-person, our aim is the focus on improving the quality of care for all older Ontarians as they access and use the Ontario healthcare system. Please allow this post to serve as an introduction to the current demographics and health states of older Ontarians!

⚪️ According to 2020 census data 542 600 older Ontarians (21.8%) report that their health status is “worse” or “much worse” than the year prior while 13.5% report that their health is “better” or “much” better than the previous year

⚪️ 25% of older Ontarians report 4 or more chronic conditions which includes diseases such as hypertension, arthritis, diabetes, chronic pain, etc. Factors such as access to health services, access to adequate, secure nutrition, stress management and social security can help prevent chronic conditions or prevent complications in those diagnosed.

⚪️ More than 1 million older Ontarians visited a specialist within the previous 12 months! It is essential that as senior make use of the healthcare system they are treated with dignity, autonomy and empowered!

⚪️ Statistically, good health falls with age but ageing is not a disease process! Ageing is a natural process experienced by all!

👩‍⚕️Who: 6 undergraduate nursing students at Toronto’s York University looking to make a change! 

❓Why: We believe older Ontarians deserve a higher standard of care! 

🏆Goal: Raise awareness & share strategies to promote safe, compassionate &  dignified care for older adults as they navigate that Ontario healthcare & long-term care systems

Thank you to those of you who completed our survey & shared your thoughts, feelings & experiences! We have gathered some really fantastic data we will be using to create targeted, specific content over the next couple weeks to facilitate our goal of advocating & raising awareness for better care standards for Seniors in Ontario! If you have any additional feedback or suggestions, our DMs are open & our survey link remains active! Stay tuned! 🔗 link in bio!

Hello! This page has been made to bring awareness and collect information about the care of older adults in the Ontario health care system. A google survey has been linked to this post for anyone to complete! The information collected is being used for our innovation project!

https://forms.gle/UwFq54BBrrvPvmT69