several things on our bottleless for
example like having a good job good
stable income having a good family good
health and of course a place to live I
remember when my grandpa chose the place
that we now live in Los Angeles when I
was 14 a time there are several things
he considered for example like a Chinese
speaking neighborhood as well as he can
walk to the places in the community as
soon as II this is where I live in
Monterey Park right there of course I
didn’t know better because I didn’t
really have a say in the decision but
when I started occupational therapy
school in 2009 it started all mixed
sense and I realized my grandpa actually
exercised for thinking called
aging-in-place
because he wanted to participate in the
community as well as being able to SS
participate in doing things he likes
like buying newspaper or going to the
library or going to the post office so
here’s the Center for Disease Control’s
definition of Aging in Place it is the
ability to live in one’s own home and
community regards of safely and
independently regardless of age income
level as well as ability level as well
so now I’m going to talk about some
facts and this is pertaining to the
elderly population by 2050 our eighty
3.7 million people will be over 65 in
the US and out of those people thirteen
point eight million people will have
some form of lsummers this is a very big
problem as I learned from my gerontology
class in occupational therapy school now
let’s switch gears to a presence right
now there have been about 800,000
Americans who have been hospitalized for
fall this is a serious problem because
for people who are over 60
five one-in-four would likely to have a
fall and then those who already have a
fall they were more likely to fall
because they have a fear of falling now
switch gears on the outsiders front
absolutely people without summers there
are three times more likely to fall than
those who don’t and this is doubling is
a global problem but almost which talks
to talk about the US figures a little
bit in the u.s. right now the most
current estimate the cost of Falls is
thirty four billion dollars per year in
medical bills and then the cause of
Alzheimer’s is a hundred billion dollars
per year now this is a diagram I know
it’s very small but it highlights where
I work right now so imagine one your
loved ones is functional Hospital it
could be from a fall at the home or
sometimes in the community it could be
because after stroke and then they lost
functional body on one side a body or it
could be after a urinary tract infection
so you pee and of course took with many
other reasons more ideally they could go
home after they go to the hospital but
let’s say they cannot go home what way
they go one more places we can go is
called assisted living facility where
people they will receive minimal
assistance in terms of doing their daily
living tasks where work is the next
level down it’s called skilled nursing
facilities what the general public we
call nursing homes so in this setting
your loved ones where there is your
grandparents or your parents do we see
24-hour care from the nurse nursing
staff and they might or might not we see
we have dilatation services and what I
probably do as an occupational therapist
is that I primary I might evaluate how
the patient is doing when they first
come into the nursing home it could also
be working on the strain and the down is
it could also be like working on their
daily daily tasks for example like
simple tasks like going to the bathroom
or getting
or even feed themselves or for some
people who are like bedridden
it could be just increasing their
ability to interact with their
environment so a lot of people
dissociate nursing homes is a bunch of
people who are elderly living in their
place in reality is not really true
right now in the United States there are
1.4 million Americans living in their
nursing homes actually 15 percent of
which are under 65 so it is conceivable
for me to see the 20 year old and 30
year olds who are living in these
nursing homes as well so now I’m gonna
switch gears to some of the patient
stories that I have first up we have
Christine so I was asked to do
Christine’s evaluation that day to see
how she is why I went to her room she
was a bedridden lady and she has a
tracheostomy tube an oxygen tube as well
as a feeding tube attached to her she
was totally dependent on her caregivers
to do her daily limit ask and the way
she communicate where some people were
bedridden they might not be able to
communicate but she can communicate so
she communicate via pointing letters on
a piece of paper to form words when I
went to the rehab office to do my
evaluation report this was then I talked
to the physical therapist who also did
her only evaluation it was then I found
out that Christine she was going for a
PhD degree unfortunately she has ALS and
as well as other respiratory issues and
other physical issues they left her in
that state when I went home that day I
was like wow I can’t believe it’s like
this lady she has all the things going
for her going very well in her life and
then something like that just happened
and then she’s like completely dead for
next story I have is Chris so Chris used
to be an actor in Hollywood scene
actually so he has like chronic shoulder
issues as well as like so his right foot
was twisted out pointed outward and he
has been saying that nursing home for
ten years because it was very difficult
for the rehab team to fit a brace to fit
his right foot correctly and then
because it was a very big strong person
so he actually had a lot of trouble
balancing himself when he walks so
that’s why you see the picture here here
he’s like he actually had to walk on the
parallel bars to sort of gets confident
in walking and then because it’s all so
big and strong so he leads like two or
three people to help him to walk to the
bathroom at first I did not get along
with Chris very well but then a year
later I actually walked past his room I
saw golf losses in room I found out that
he liked off and at that time I just
barely started golf so I went in his
room I talked about my miserable golf
performances at the golf course
sorry no he told me he told me was you
know dill let’s make up that like I’ve
been staying just damn nursing home for
ten years he’s like let’s see let’s make
a bet okay so me getting out of this
damn facility or you trying to break 100
on a championship golf course literally
I know a year later he was discharged is
this living facility me on the other
hand I still try to freak hundred I said
still good so next on the list was Susan
Susan came to us two months before
Christmas one year and her family was
very involved in her care and the
ultimate goal for Susan from her family
was they want her to come home before
Christmas
I mean imagine your loved ones and they
had a situation like this
that’d be one of your bushes so because
her family was very involved and our
rehab team was very enthusiastic susan
was able to meet her goal and the fact
that seeing these successful discharges
even though it is very tough for me I
know that is what keeps the passion and
momentum going at the end of the date oh
I’m really not a miracle worker
because sometimes the grim reality is
that these people live in these nursing
homes they may not be able to go home or
they may not be able to go to a lower
level of care the reason you could be
because they just couldn’t take care of
themselves or it could be because they
post themselves they danger to
themselves or others
so you’re my fingers like oh it’s very
bright very happy job to see all these
destroyers but sometimes in places like
this is like you could get really grim
very depressing so now I’m going to
switch to some of my take-home points
first go for the opportunities when they
present themselves I remember when I
first started my job in the nursing home
I actually longed to have a desire to
play golf but my parents come economy is
like golf it’s also expensive why do you
want to play it but then after I hear
some of the stories from my patients I
realized that I gotta take advantage of
my youth and I got to do things that I
want to do why I still can
so therefore I took up golf after I went
to a summer in the UK and I tried it I
really liked it so I decided to go to
the remember cells or the good little
stores to buy my own set so we can get
started to play next on the list is the
main facility active so according to
research actually if you are physically
active you could decrease your risk of
Falls next on the list is learn
something new and unfamiliar every day
and then this is also according to some
research as well right now I heard it’s
like if you keep on engaging it
in a new phase of life you decrease your
risk of having Alzheimer’s or dementia
right now I will say from a cognitive
standpoint I’ve been very active so
aside from the fact that I work 40 plus
hours a week I also was I’m involved in
three different communities in the
occupational therapy for fashion also I
want to start teaching in a junk
facility adjunct faculty role in and
local occupational therapy institution
so for me is like definitely I want to
keep my mind sharp by focusing on
different things in my life next one oh
this is treasurer the older folks around
you and whether they have physical
problems or cognitive problems they are
very good resources to have because
sometimes you can learn some very good
life lessons on them
I know another speaker gathering event I
definitely have talked have some
conversations over older speakers to
pick on some wisdom from them about how
to live gracefully and yeah some or on
the flip side you might see someone who
are like maybe pass history like a drug
addict or something it’s like you learn
something else too because you don’t
want to repeat their mistakes in life
so in closing actually I want to shout
out to my great profession because it is
actually our 100th anniversary this year
so I’m grateful for the ability for this
TEDx experience thank you
[Applause]
[Music] [Applause]