Posted under General & Marketing Massage for Special Populations & Massage for Elders
A very happy, healthy, and abundant new year to you! Lately, I’ve been exploring the concept of how to best assess the needs of frail elders who are living with the effects of debilitating conditions. It has become very clear to me that practically all assessments in health care have the intention of identifying what problems the person is having. Assessments mostly ask the question, ” What’s wrong with you?”
Elders who have been in care settings (hospitals, nursing homes) begin to identify with this question of ‘what’s wrong with you’. I’ve noticed that over time the condition becomes more and more the identity of the person. What if we were to have more a mindset of “What happened to you”? Doesn’t that question take on a whole different energy and intention? Doesn’t it acknowledge that this is a whole individual who has endured whatever effects his or her condition has created? I’m not suggesting that we throw out our assessment processes but rather to balance the process with a holistic and compassionate view of the person. To ask “What happened to you” either outloud or silently is powerful medicine in itself. Try it and let me know if it shifts anything for you.
Wishing you grace and good fortune for 2010.
Ann
Marc Freedman OTR/L on 22 Feb 2010 at 3:51 pm #
Thank you, Ann for pointing out the distinction between “what’s wrong with you?” and “what’s happened to you?’. It does put an entirely different slant on how we can approach vulnerable people of all sorts (including ourselves!).