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Benito Rumbo

California State University Channel Islands

Professor Winans: Health 499

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The course that I will be using my artifact is Health Aging Health 348 with Professor

Landry. The assignment was a group project, I removed all my group member’s names for

confidentiality. In this project, we had to focus on social attitudes towards aging. Many times,

older adults in America are seen as fragile, senile, and slow. This is because of the influence of

the entertainment industry. One show that shows a negative representation is The Simpsons.

Homer Simpson’s father Abe Simpson is seen as what most Americans would consider the

typical aging population. In the show, The Simpsons it displays a negative view of the aging

process. Many older adults are for the most part independent and have autonomy in doing the

activities they choose to partake. Some might suffer a health complication that can delay their

independence, but with proper diet and exercise, an older adult can decrease their health

complication. Coming into this class I was aware of health illnesses such as Dementia,

Alzheimer’s, and other illnesses that could cause a delay in someone’s health. It is important for

family members to plan an intervention in order to properly care for their loved ones.

In this assignment, we decided to include as our topics how other cultures view the aging

population. We compared American culture vs Korean culture, older adults in the workplace, and

health care work attitudes toward older adults. Overall, this assignment made me conscious of

eliminating an ageism perspective because most older adults are fully independent. Coming into

the course I was not aware of the influence of ageism. The course directed me into thinking that

aging is not just related to series of health complications. Aging is a natural process that includes

biological, and psychological factors that are related to the aging process. An older adult can

obtain a healthy lifestyle and decrease their aging process by living a healthier life. A person can

avoid facing health complications by being proactive and starting to incorporate resources that
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could benefit them into managing their health. One example is avoiding alcohol and managing

their sleeping patterns. Alcohol can increase the risk of dementia.

I enjoyed this course because it was very applicable to the real world. As we become

older we never think about developing a plan that is related to aging. This assignment helped me

see that as I become older there might be obstacles that I might have to overcome. Although I

still need to become more informed of the resource available I have a better understanding of

knowing that there is a supportive resource available to older adults. The course did focus on

resources such as developing an Advanced Care Plan, Medical, and Medicaid, but I would have

liked to become informed of other resources. By becoming informed of different resource

available to older adults it could have broaden my knowledge.

I wish the course contained a volunteering requirement of 50 hours or something that

made a student become more hands-on. We learned about different theories and in some

assignments, we were able to apply them. One assignment was interviewing an older adult and

asking them a series of questions related to their personal health. I was very excited about this

assignment. I decided that I wanted to interview my grandmother. I learned more about her

because of the interview. I would have enjoyed meeting other older adults because I believe they

have so much knowledge and insight into navigating society. Even phone calls could have

counted towards our hours. If the requirement for volunteering was required it could have been

counted toward our final. The final could have included community outreach focused on the

geriatric population and write a reflection essay. Especially right now many individuals feel

lonely and developing a friendship with a grandparent or stranger can have an impact on both the

older adult and the student. There are ways of managing a contactless relationship rather that is
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mailing or calling someone. I strongly believed that including community outreach for this

course should be included so students can apply the theories that were introduce in our courses.