Aged Care Policies Develop and Implement Strategic Plans

Queston: Identify what the author is arguing should happen in that policy area? Answer: Aged Care Policies The article explores the distress in Australias aged care policies and the need to reform them. Though the opening lines of the article focuses on the main aspect of vulnerability of older adults in Australian but the central attraction of the article is Atul Gawande who is a surgeon and a writer for The New Yorker, and his work Being Mortal (Atul Gawande, 2015) which calls for an alteration in the aged care policies. The author of the article also mentions that there is an important role of the Commonwealth Home Support Program which will be launched in July 2015. (Myagedcare.gov.au, 2015) This program will act according to the interest of the older Australians so that they are able to reside in their own homes independently. (On Line Opinion, 2015) The author argues on the fact that most of the Western countries considered old age and death to be some medical problems that must be solved with medical insights but he believes that the old age and death is not at all problems. They are just the experiences that every society has to deal with. Through the works of Atul Gawande, the author argues that the death and aging is not just a medical problem, it is rather a social problem that must be dealt with care (Fink, 2015). Gawande has depicted that the medicine and modern medical technology has proved to be slow and stagnant and have no sufficient knowledge about how to make the lives of the older adults better. The author argues that the doctor should not only be concerned with the treatment of diseases but also must consider the functional abilities and disabilities of the old age. In this regard it must be advised to the medical trainees to gain knowledge about geriatrics. The author of the article argues that the policy on aged care had reformed and initiated a home support programme but this program is not the only aspect that must be included in the reform policy. As we learn from the Gawande and his work Being Mortal that the incompetence of the medical society may cause quick death of old adults. Gawande states that when he surveyed the elder care accommodation, he found out that the residents were not only disabled and drugged but they were victims of Three Plagues which are boredom, helplessness and loneliness. The author argues that the accommodation or the homes that would be supplied by the Commonwealth Home Support Programme would not solve the old age atrocities rather make their life worse. Hence the policy needs a much more variant outlook towards its reformation. The aspect that home support focuses is the independence of the older adults. But the author argues that the later lives of the old age population are subject to dependence on strangers or drugs. So the programme might not be benefi cial to them. (Gibson, 2015) The author supports the philosophical concept of social justice when he states that when people die either due to health hazard or old age, they are deprived of dignity and respect. Social justice is defined as justice delivered considering wealth distribution, opportunities and even privileges in a society. When the author states that en route to the grave most will suffer indignities it is clear that he is pointing at the fact that old adults are not given the privileges they must receive at the time of their journey to death. The author also highlights the public health approach and states that modern death is often excruciating and lengthy. By this he means that the modern technology may have found ways to cure diseases but when it comes to cancer, it fails to give the patients a peaceful death. Here he has cited about the death of Gawandes father and Sara Monopoli who were incidentally suffering from cancer and met painful deaths. (Ohchr.org, 2015) With regard to human rights of the old people, the author states that emphasizing their commitment to "safety" and allowing the residents tolivelives they want. In this context the author focuses on the Gawandes survey to the elder accommodation where the owners are ensuring safety and right to do what the old adult want to do. But in most cases the human rights of the old adults are violated and their lives become worthless. (Mandal, n.d.) The views as mentioned above are based on the realities and not on assumption or fiction. As the author denotes the work of the Gawande a perfect one whose objective is to portray the end of life matters before the public. I agree to the views that the author and Gawande has experienced. From my personal experience, I have witnessed the tragic death of an elderly couple who were abandoned at a local old age home. Some believe they could not bear the pain to live separated from their grandchildren. Thus, the rights of them were violated and their children could not render social justice to their old parents. Also the tragic death meant that they did not receive the deserved privileges. Thus, this experience enabled me to agree to the context. And also second the thought of the author regarding the reforming of the aged care policies in Australia. I feel the Commonwealth Home Support Programme would not ensure full benefits to the old age rather there are other relevant issues that nee d to be covered by the policies. (OLDMAN, 2002) The specialist work of the social worker with the old age people is called the Gerontological social work. In this regard, the strategy of the social worker must be taken to ensure that quality of life and the well being of the old people are maintained and aim to promote independence, autonomy and dignity to them. The social worker must work on the Community Care Reforms so the administrative model of care, especially for the old age is installed. (Milne, Ray and Phillips, 2015) The article about the Australias aged care policies and the role of the Commonwealth Home Support Programme is criticized by the author with the help of the work by the Atul Gawande and Being Mortal. In my opinion there is an urgent need to reform the aged care policy so that the rising aged population is taken care. References Atul Gawande, (2015).Being Mortal. [online] Available at: https://atulgawande.com/book/being-mortal/ [Accessed 24 Mar. 2015]. Fink, S. (2015).Atul Gawandes Being Mortal. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/books/review/atul-gawande-being-mortal-review.html?_r=1 [Accessed 24 Mar. 2015]. Gibson, D. (2015).Aged Care: Old Policies, New Problems. Cambridge University Press. Copyright. Mandal, S. (n.d.). Protection of Rights of Oldage Person in India: A Challenging Facet of Human Rights.SSRN Journal. Milne, A., Ray, M. and Phillips, J. (2015). Social work with older people: a vision for the future. [online] Available at: https://www.cpa.org.uk/cpa-lga-evidence/College_of_Social_Work/Milneetal%282014%29-Socialworkwitholderpeople-avisionforthefuture.pdf. Myagedcare.gov.au, (2015).Commonwealth Home Support Programme July 2015 | My Aged Care. [online] Available at: https://www.myagedcare.gov.au/news/commonwealth-home-support-programme-%E2%80%93-july-2015-0 [Accessed 24 Mar. 2015]. Ohchr.org, (2015).Human rights of older persons. [online] Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/OlderPersons/Pages/OlderPersonsIndex.aspx [Accessed 24 Mar. 2015]. OLDMAN, C. (2002). Later life and the social model of disability: a comfortable partnership?.Ageing and Society, 22(6), pp.791-806. On Line Opinion, (2015).A better life, even if it's a shorter life - On Line Opinion - 9/1/2015. [online] Available at: https://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=16997page=0 [Accessed 24 Mar. 2015].