Elderly Care (老人护理, 老人介護, 노인 간호)

 All restaurants and service industries are in need of more workers nowadays, just based on the number of "Help wanted" signs I see hanging outside most stores I drive by, but that's more of a temporary phenomenon caused by a one-time (hopefully) event, but one of the long-time growing sectors of the job market is elderly care, as America and the world as a whole becomes an aging society that lives longer and longer but need more help as they grow older (it's also one of the main reasons I felt confident MJ would get a job as a nurse, even if not necessarily in elderly care). There are nurses and caregivers out there, but are there enough, and can they handle the job? My grandfather is 95 this year, and he's always been a staple of our family ever since I came to America when I was 5, but it's been a slow decline in abilities for him: he used to do morning calisthenics every morning at 5AM, but that's gone; he can't climb up the stairs to our family home anymore to his old bedroom, so he has to stay downstairs in what used to be the guest bedroom, he needs a walker to walk, and he's unable to take long walks outside like he used to. Most of these detriments sprung up this past year as he fell down at home and had to be rushed to the hospital, a sign that his physical body is breaking down. Luckily, his mental capabilities are still there and he can speak and listen, as long as you speak very loudly to him to compensate for his hearing loss. My parents work as a tag team to help him with meals, take showers, taking him to the hospital, and serving general caretaking needs, but it is kind of a full-time job so it's difficult. And they only have one elder they need to look after! I don't know what it's like at a senior home, or a stay-at-home nurse, or a full-time caregiver. Can we really afford to have a one-to-one ratio on caregivers to elderly? Seems like that would require a lot of help. 

Plus, my grandpa has gotten understandably stubborn with old age, along with forgetting things, losing things, etc. But stubbornness and slight paranoia are most noticeable: he worries that the senior center that he goes to twice a week (started going again after a 15-month hiatus due to Covid-19) won't pick him up, and he's stubborn about doing his routine of waiting by the door, wearing his false teeth, etc., etc. None of these are unbearable, but I can imagine where some elderly are more extreme and refuse entirely to do things that may damage their health. They act similarly to kids who don't understand logic and new information, but they have the added downside of thinking they are right and not listening to others because they are older and don't have to. It's a tough situation, and an admirable job for anyone who is in elderly care. Requires a lot of patience, which is not exactly my strong suit. My grandpa doesn't have debilitating dementia or Alzhimer's yet, but it will be very sad and painful if he does; the sad thing about taking care of adults is that their condition usually grows worse, as opposed to when I was a camp counselor and working with kids who are growing and full of boundless energy and have their whole lives ahead of them; it's hard to be optimistic for the elderly, and there are often more diseases and physical challenges to work around. I would venture to think most people wouldn't willingly volunteer to take care of the elderly, which makes it that much harder to find people to be good at it and enthusiastic about it, even though the elderly need it the most. Much like we saw at the beginning of the pandemic, the elderly seem to get neglected by other members of society even though they are at their weakest; they deserve living out the rest of their lives with dignity. 

I also wonder what will happen for my parents when they get a little older (they are in their mid-60's now). Both are active and as of recently still working and very much self-sustaining, even providing care to my grandfather, but eventually they will retire and be in the same condition as my grandfather: in need of care. They've already toured some retirement homes, but as a matter of filial piety I feel responsible for their well-being (at least I have a sister!) and would want to help as much as I could. My dad already makes verbal blunders in English (calling avocados "Colorados" and Lake Balboa "baboon," so I hope he can keep the mental side together, whereas my mom may have some physical issues earlier on. I also wonder about myself when I become an "elder" statesman: will I need help for anything? I imagine nobody anticipates needing help when they are young and invincible, but eventually will I also need elder care? Will I become stubborn and unconvinced and forgetting things all the time? If so, I hope elder care is readily available then, or humans have evolved a way out of growing old/ built some technology to solve it, like robot caregivers (I once saw a robot perform a C-section in the movie Prometheus, which broadened my horizons considerably). Until then, I hope to stay active even at an older age and do everything I didn't have time for as a kid: not just sit and watch TV and go through the same routine every day. But then again, when I'm old, my thoughts will likely change and that'll be what I want to do. That's the tough part of aging: we don't know when it will happen and what I will be like when I do. 

Fantasize on, 

Robert Yan