EP14: Having the COVID Conversation with Older Relatives

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">EP14: Having the COVID Conversation with Older Relatives</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">One thing to keep in mind during this pandemic is that we've seen a significant outbreak of ageism. Ageism is when you are prejudiced about someone or used to stereotype them because of their age alone. It's a major problem globally, and even younger people can experience ageism.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In this week's episode, you'll learn about:</span></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Having the COVID Conversation with Older Relatives</span></li> </ul> <p><strong>Part One of ‘Having the COVID Conversation with Older Relatives’</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The first thing we need to understand is that older adults are all different. For some reason, there's this perception by people that all older adults are these old disabled people, and they're all in nursing homes. And that's actually not true. Ninety-five percent of older adults are living in their communities. They're living in their homes. And in a given time, only five percent of people over the age of 65 are in our nation's nursing homes. So, the majority of older people are handling their own business.</span></p> <p><strong><em>“There's a misconception that all older adults are disabled and in nursing homes.” — Melissa Batchelor (01:11-01:19)</em></strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Unlike with childhood, we see these developmental milestones. At first, you crawl, then you eventually learn how to walk and run. You're supposed to hit those milestones as you grow up. What happens with aging is that there is no one way to do it. It all depends on the choices that we make when we're young. Do we exercise? Do we get enough sleep? Are we eating the right amount of food? Are we maintaining a healthy weight? All those lifestyle choices impact what we're going to look like when we're old. You need to be up and moving, just like the senio