The Aging Game: Aging Awareness

Workshop

Rose van Zuilen, PhD

Methuselah, Age 4798

PresenterPresentation NotesThe main focus of our grant is on developing physician competency in geriatric syndromes so the bulk of our evaluation activities this year also center around the determination of competency.

We have applied of a continuous quality improvement process based on the assessment data for the knowledge, skills, and attitude learning objectives for each of the three syndromes, dementia, falls, and delirium and you will hear a lot about the lessons we have learned from this.

Overview Aging Quiz Visualizing your future self Experiencing sensory changes

Vision Hearing Motor function

Impact on daily life What you can do Revisit your future self

Jonathan, Age 176

PresenterPresentation NotesTo help you gain a better understanding of what it might be like for your aging parents if they were experiencing sensory losses I am going to ask you to begin by imagining yourself and what your life will be like when you are olderThings you can do to help improve the quality of life of your aging loved ones and perhaps help them to live independently longer.

Aging Quiz

1. One in 5 Americans is 65 and older 2. Baby boomers are the fastest growing segment of

the population 3. A 65-year-old can expect to live another 18 years. 4. Most older people live alone 5. People become more religious as they get older

Aging Quiz

6. 25% of the elderly live below the poverty level 7. Older adults usually take longer to learn

something new 8. 10% of those 65 and older live in a nursing home 9. There are two widows for each widower among

the aged 10. As your body changes with age, so does your

personality

Aging Quiz 11. Most older people will become senile if they live

long enough 12. Each year, about 5% of older adults are victims

of violent crimes 13. Social Security benefits automatically increase

with inflation 14. Heart disease is a bigger problem for older men

than for older women 15. Aged drivers have fewer accidents per driver

than those under age 65

Visualizing Your Future Self

Lucy, Age 39 Pusuke, Age 26

Vision Loss Activities

Tish, Age 43

Glasses #1 Glaucoma (Primary Open-Angle)

Damage to the nerve fibers responsible for peripheral vision

Gradual loss of peripheral vision Tunnel vision in the advanced stages

PresenterPresentation NotesGradual loss of peripheral vision, usually in both eye. It may just begin with some blind spots.Tunnel vision in the advanced stages eventually may lead to blindness

Image Credit: National Eye Institute, NIH

PresenterPresentation Notes Image National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health.A scene as it might look to a person with glaucoma. Glaucoma has been nicknamed "the sneak thief of sight" because it often goes undetected and causes irreversible damage to the eye. As the disease progresses, vision seems to fluctuate and peripheral vision fails. If left untreated, vision can be reduced to tunnel vision and eventually, total blindness.

In this image you can still see the most important part the smiling faces of the children, but what if you were driving. The vision loss may be subtle in the beginning with just some bind spots in the periphery.

Normal Vision

PresenterPresentation NotesHere is what a person with normal vision might see All lanes of traffic the traffic light and the road sign indicating the speed limit.

Early Glaucoma

PresenterPresentation NotesImagine the impact just a few blind spots could have on a persons safety (and the safety of others)

Glasses #2 Macular Degeneration

Leading cause of irreversible vision loss and legal blindness in the elderly

Gradual worsening of central vision

Image Credit: National Eye Institute, NIH

PresenterPresentation NotesA scene as it might look to a person with macular degeneration. Age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of irreversible vision loss and legal blindness in the elderly. Vision loss in early cases of macular degeneration is so gradual that most people do not notice it. As the disease progresses, vision may be blurred and objects may appear distorted. Patients may complain of missing letters in words or difficulty seeing smaller print.

Glasses #3 Hemianopsia from a Stroke

Lack of vision on one side Blindness in part of each eye Can result in neglect

Glasses #4 Cataracts

A leading cause of blindness worldwide

Progressive vision loss and glare

Cataracts affect more than 22 million Americans age 40 and older

Source: Prevent Blindness America

Image Credit: National Eye Institute, NIH

PresenterPresentation NotesA scene as it might look to a person with cataract. A cataract is a clouding of the eye's lens. Cataracts are one of the leading cause of blindness among people older than 55. Cataracts make your visual field appear fuzzy or blurry.

Put on the Yellow Glasses #5

Yellowing of the Lens

Put on the Yellow Glasses #5

Yellowing of the Lens

Identify the Pink Pills

1 2 3

4 5

6 7 8

Identify the Green Pills

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8

PresenterPresentation NotesDifficulty discriminating colors in the blue-green-violet rangeMay impact a persons ability to select clothes that matchOther vision and eye problems experienced more commonly by older adultsFocusing on objects at varying distancesDepth perceptionAdjusting to changes in lightDiscriminating colorsEyelid problemsDry eyes

Diabetic Retinopathy

Damage to the blood vessels in the retina

Usually affects both eyes

Hearing

Can You Hear Me Now?

Correct Words

1. Fill 2. Catch 3. Thumb 4. Heap 5. Wise

6. Wedge 7. Fish 8. Shows 9. Bed 10.Juice

Worlds Oldest Newlyweds: Age 193 combined

Taste and Smell

PresenterPresentation NotesThe sensation of flavor in food is a combination of taste and smell Gustatory function consists of fine taste (e.g., distinguishing turkey from chicken), which is an olfactory function, and crude (lingual) taste (e.g., distinguishing sweet from sour), which is mediated through the taste buds. Our enjoyment of food is also enhanced by the visual appeal

Taste and Smell Changes Taste buds decrease with age Less saliva produced Loss of nerve endings in the nose

Contributors to taste and smell changes

Medications Smoking Medical problems - the common cold, chronic sinusitis

and allergies Dentures and other mouth problems

PresenterPresentation NotesMost changes in the perception of food flavor result from the loss of smell

Taste Changes

Welwitschia Mirabilisare, Age 1500-2000

Motor Loss Activities

La Marquise, Age 128

Revisit Your Future Self

Senior Friendly Assessment

How Old Am I ?

PresenterPresentation NotesHow old do you think this lady is?

This is Nola Ochs, who in May 2007 at age 95 graduated with a bachelors degree from Fort Hays State University in Kansas (left and bottom pictures). She is the oldest college graduate in the world and was entered in Guinness World Records 2008. In May 2010 at the age of 98 (right top picture) she received her masters in liberal studies with a concentration in history.

Ask students what they expect to see if a 4-year old is in their preceptors office - walking, talking, feeding, dressing. Now, what do they expect if it is a 75-year old there is such tremendous diversity of the elderly that when you have seen one elderly patient you have seen one elderly patient.

John Glenn (at age 77): oldest person to venture into space

PresenterPresentation NotesOn October 29, 1998, he was the oldest person to fly in space on Shuttle Discovery to help research on how weightlessness affects the body of an older person. He was 77 years old.

Min Bahadur Sherchan (76-year-old): oldest person to climb Mount Everest (May 2008)

PresenterPresentation NotesIn 2008 seventy-six-year-old Nepalese man Min Bahadur Sherchan reached the peak of Mount Everest, making him the oldest person to ever climb the 29,028 foot mountain all the way to the top. But when the 2009 Guinness Book of World Records came out he saw that the title had been mistakenly awarded to seventy-five-year-old Japanese national Yuichiro Miura, who reached the top of Everest in May of the same year.

The oldest climber to reach Mt. Everest's summit is 76-year-old Min Bahadur Sherchan, who did so 25 May 2008 from the Nepal side

Pierre Jean Buster Martin (104-year-old?): UKs Oldest Employee

and Marathon Runner

PresenterPresentation NotesPierre Jean "Buster" Martin (asserted date of birth 1 September 1906) claims to be the United Kingdom's oldest employee, claiming to have been born in 1906. Martin works for a well-known plumbing company in southeast London as a van cleaner, and notably refused to take a day off on the day he celebrated what he claims was his 100th birthday. Martin stated that he will not retire from working. Doubts have been raised about all of Martin's historical claims, including his age, which may be "only" 97. Died April 12, 2011

He entered the London Marathon in 2008 and claims to have finished it in about 10 hours