Why do we study gerontology

Older adults represent a disproportionate share of health care and social services. As things currently stand, our nation is not prepared to meet the social and medical needs of this aging population. Bottom line, our work force is inadequately trained to care for older adults creating a work force shortage that will threaten the quality of care available to older adults.

Additionally, our aging population will be a much more diverse group of individuals requiring a complex array of care and management.

As a society, we should ask how one can dismiss the struggles of such an amazing generation of adults. Becoming older aging is inevitable, but it is also something that should be revered. Yet, the question beckons: What are we doing as a society to make sure that we adapt healthy lifestyles now to assure an inexorable transition into old age? This question is similarly posed as we strive to meet the demands of a growing diverse racially and ethnically aging population.

Over the last twenty-five years, there has been a growing emphasis in the field of gerontology to examine issues related to diversity across racial and ethnic groups. This has resulted in an evident need for an organized platform focusing on the scientific advances of the aged from diverse races and ethnic populations, while enhancing conceptual and theoretical models within and across varying ethnic and race groups.

These concerns are reflected in my own scholarly work focusing on the behavioral, psycho-social, and cultural aspects of aging. I think all MU students should take the opportunity and take this class, because it will teach you how to best serve our expanding population of elders through leadership and policy-making.

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Whether an elder is your family or not, they are someone's family, and they are loved. With the knowledge I have gained from this course, I can continue caring for my grandparents and keep the tradition of making homemade goodies, like these mustache cookies, with them for a long time to come.