A Rose By Any Other Name...

A rare two posting night. :) I cannot sleep yet because of my headache and this observation really hit home tonight.
It is very easy to view the elderly as being child like. Often they are spoken to or treated as if it is assumed that their cognitive abilities have all but vanished. No one here has Dementia (not on the two wards I use) but the way many people talk to them you would never know. I had to do an assessment for recreation services today, and one of the questions was what important information I wanted them to know. I specifically had her write that I am highly intelligent and detest having people talk down to me or treat me as a child. I just hope they can follow that.
My big revelation this evening is how patients are talked about without them knowing, even in front of other patients. They literally have very inappropriate nick names for several of the residents that I know of. They laugh about these people and find humor in their limitations. As a former preschool special education teacher I would never have talked about my students like this because no matter what the challenges are they were first and foremost children. Here it should be that patients are first and foremost human beings. I know some people can have a difficult personality, or an annoying habit but that is no reason to demean them. Dignity can be a very rare thing around here.
Is this how we want our elderly to be treated? These people are mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, friends. They matter to someone. I was raised to respect those older than me, even if just by a little bit. We have lost this manner in so many ways. It breaks my heart to see and hear it. I am so thankful that this is not my home, that I get to go home and go back to a life where I will have dignity, respect, appreciation, love, and belonging. But for so many this is home and they do not get to return to a life of respect.