Substance Abuse with the Elderly in Assisted Living Facilities Research Paper

Substance Abuse with the Elderly in Assisted Living Facilities - Research Paper Example This essay discusses that as a society, we tend to disregard, vindicate or reduce the effects of drug abuse on the elderly especially those who live in assisted facilities. Whenever we observe amnesia, sadness, an unstable gait and the like, we have a habit of blaming the aging progression rather than scrutinize the prospect of the drug problem. A parable found in the medical society is the erroneous view that the ‘window of risk’ of emerging drug issues is closed by age 50. Major health care providers won’t frequently converse the consumption of unlawful use of prescription drugs with their patients, hence creating a cover of secrecy to the society.Another success story is the Beatitudes nursing home in Phoenix, which dramatically transformed its way of treating patients with dementia. What happens here is not for the systems or for convenience, but for the people, we care for the director of education and research at the Beatitudes. People with dementia have tro ubles in their sleeping and waking patterns, therefore we let them be relaxed and choose when they want to sleep or eat. A typical fact is that a lot of nursing facilities abuse occurrences pass by unreported and unnoticed by any authority (Goodwin, 2015). Subsequently, it is imperative for relatives to watch out for the cautions signs that something is about to go wrong. Usually, side-effects and cautioning signs of overdosing patients comprises of rare fatigue and exhaustion, disorientation, unusual withdrawal symptoms, oversleeping and memory lapses.