Sensory loss can lead to isolation and depression
DOTHAN, Ala. — Caring for a 101-year-old man who’s deaf and almost totally blind takes patience and understanding.
It’s the kind of work Nancy Griffin finds rewarding.
As one of the caregivers with Wiregrass Area Home Instead Senior Care looking after the man and his wife, Griffin sees the challenges people with sensory loss face.
She also recognizes that creating a supportive environment to help them live a fulfilling life is vital.
“To see how they enjoy each other every day, it makes your heart smile,” Griffin said.
A recent survey by Home Instead found that approximately 83% of U.S. adults 65 and older are living with at least one diminished sense.
Sensory impairments can lead to feelings of isolation and depression, and diminish a person’s quality of life.
“One of the things we see with these challenges or deprivations in senses is that a lot of people become withdrawn because they can’t communicate,” said Liz Woodard, a community service representative with Home Instead. “They can’t hear or they can’t see so they tend to isolate and withdraw.”
A decline in any of the five senses — taste, smell, touch, hearing and sight — can affect a person’s well-being.
“One in 5 adults 65 and older have partially lost their sense of taste,” Woodard said. “It leads to poor nutrition, loss of appetite, which also leads to decline in our seniors.”
A diminished sense of smell can cause some seniors to eat too little or too much.
Damaged nerves, known as neuropathy, in the hands and feet can cause tingling, numbness, weakness and pain. The damage makes walking and other tasks difficult.
“If somebody has diabetic neuropathy or neuropathy caused by something else, their ability to feel the floor could lead to injury from them knocking and hurting and injuring their feet,” Woodard said.
Inner ear problems can affect hearing and balance. Impaired vision reduces a person’s ability to perform daily tasks and move about unaided.
“Because your depth perception is off you may not see your slippers that are right there on the floor and trip over them, or your little dog,” Woodard said.
Source of help
Impaired senses and mobility can be debilitating for older adults. Southern Alabama Regional Council on Aging provides services to enhance the independence of seniors in Barbour, Coffee, Covington, Dale, Geneva, Henry and Houston counties.
Alicia Anderson, a longterm care ombudsman at SARCOA, said the organization offers age play training that can be geared toward nursing homes, groups and the public.
“It kind of simulates the aging process,” Anderson said. “It goes over things like visual impairment, hearing loss, dementia.”
The training helps people understand what it’s like to have diminished capabilities. The sessions are useful for anyone who deals with the elderly or disabled.
Griffin started working with the couple in 2017. The man and his wife, who will turn 95 in late May, were in the hospital with the flu and were about to be discharged.
“That’s when the daughter contacted Home Instead, because they were both weak and needed 24-7 care,” Griffin said.
Caregivers provide a variety of services that allow seniors to remain in their homes.
“We help them bathe. We fix their meals. We keep their home clean,” she said.
Griffin said being paired with the couple was a godsend “because they’re like my grandparents.”
She discovered right off the bat that the wife ran the house.
“You have to respect that you’re going into their home,” Griffin said. “You have to respect them. You can’t go in and start rearranging furniture or telling them what they’re going to do. You don’t do that. You go in, you respect them, and you do what they ask you to do.”
Woodard said that approach is essential.
“We’re working with adults, not children,” Woodard said.
Part of the job involves knowing what a client can and cannot do. Sensory impairment kits let caregivers experience the challenges faced by people with sensory loss and other conditions, whether it’s opening a pill bottle or dealing with impaired vision.
Because the client can’t hear and has poor vision, caregivers devised ways to communicate with him.
“We have three of the white boards that we use a dryerase marker on,” Griffin said.
Questions can be answered with hand taps — a tap on the back indicating “yes” and a tap on the wrist indicating “no.”
Every day, the man and his wife enjoy a game of Scrabble.
“That is their time, every afternoon around 3 o’clock before the 5 o’clock news,” Griffin said.
The news is the only time their television is turned on.
“Otherwise we’re interacting with them on a daily basis,” Griffin said.
The client loves paint-bynumber.
“To be 101, his hand is extremely steady,” Griffin said. “You know how tiny the spots are on a paint-by-number? He gets into those lines; he is so steady.”
He also enjoys playing card and dice games.
“He likes to play craps of all things, and he usually wins,” Griffin said.
The man used to be a world traveler. He was a bachelor until age 54 when he married his wife, who had been married before.
“We have watched several times his disc of his traveling out West, down South, up North,” Griffin said. “He has climbed mountains.”
The couple’s optimism is inspiring. Griffin said they “give me the best day that I can possibly have, honestly. I am constantly learning from them.”
Multidimensional job
Woodard said being a caregiver means looking after more than just the physical needs.
“It’s great that even with these challenges we’re still able to socially engage and to have some fun and to have some quality of life even with these challenges that our seniors face,” she said.
Home Instead offers free resources and tools on its agingsenses.com website to help people understand the challenges of sensory loss. The website includes tips on things you can do to protect your senses and has an interactive video that lets you experience baking with vision loss.