Disadvantaged groups are people in society who are at a higher risk of experiencing poverty, discrimination, and violence than the general population (Craike et al. 2018; Miller, 2018). In other words, they are vulnerable people in society. Disadvantaged groups include ethnic minorities, isolated older adults, children, and people living with disabilities (Goldman, Glei, & Weinstein, 2018; Ufkes et al., 2016). Elderly people have needs such as specialized care, protection, physical, and emotional help (Lai, Li, & Daoust, 2017; Nathan et al., 2018). However, most of these needs are not often met. This paper discusses a case involving an older woman and determines whether the current ambulance practice met her needs. More

During my placement with the Royal Flying Doctors, I encountered an older woman who was left in the village alone by her mentor or family members. The Royal Flying Doctors are the personnel who take care of the Non-Urgent Patient Transport (Crocombe & Henty, 2017; Lee & Byrne, 2016). We received an official call, saying that we had to go and pick up a lady from a hospital to take her back to the retirement village where she was living. Further information revealed that the lady had been previously admitted to the hospital due to illness and fully recovered. She was, therefore, ready to be dispatched back to her rural home.

Upon arrival at pick up facility, we were puzzled by what we saw. The old lady to be airlifted was sitting in the hospital hallway. After settling other things in the hospital, it was time to fly our client. However, she said that she was not willing to go back to the retirement village with us. She cited the reason for not going back as dislike for the other people who lived there. From afar, it was evident that she was sad and distressed. Before very long, one of the hospital nurses approached us and said that the old lady was suffering from depression and had been going on about not wanting to go back to the village. Needs of the Elderly;

Despite the nurse’s knowledge of her condition, she kept repeating to the lady that it was impossible to stay in the hospital forever, and it was now time for her to leave and go back home. This was a bit harsh as the nurse did not seek to know the reason behind the patient’s decision. After a short while, another nurse came out, accompanied by the officer in charge of the facility. The two health workers who joined us sided with their colleague and kept telling her that she could not stay in the hospital any longer. The lady did not move but remained on the bench. From her facial expression, she was about to cry and kept saying that she didn’t want to go back.

Seeing that the issue was becoming complex, we asked the lady why she did not want to go back to her rural home.  Besides, we kept reminding her that she did not have to talk to other people in the village if she did not wish to. This was to provoke her to tell us why she adamantly against going back to her rural home after being discharged from the hospital. To our surprise, there was no way to convince her as none of our options was appealing. We later realized that she was allocated to the retirement village by either her mentor or family member. The people who put up a place for her were unwilling to care for her at their houses. After a lengthy talk, we asked her where else she would want to go after leaving the hospital, and she said that it would be okay if we just left her somewhere on the streets. She added that on the streets, she would manage somehow. We couldn’t do that. Needs of the Elderly;

I enquired from the Royal Flying Doctors what we were supposed to do in such a case. They said that in an event we are not able to convince the lady, we were supposed to call Ambulance Victoria for help. This is because Ambulance Victoria is the paramedics licensed to sedate clients, and we are not (Victoria, 2018; Andronaco et al., 2018). The Paramedics threatened to sedate her and then take to the village. And it happened that we called the Ambulance Victoria. When the paramedics arrived, they were very short and snappy with the poor lady. They asked her to sit on the stretcher and lift her legs up to lay down. The lady sat on the stretcher but didn’t want to lift her legs. The Paramedic seemed a bit stressed by her behavior and lifted her legs while snapping. The Paramedic said that if she did not cooperate, he would sedate her then take her to the rural home.

Why is the woman involved disadvantaged?

One of the aspects that makes the woman disadvantaged is that she is advanced in age. The elderly in the United States are persons aged 65 and above (Bandari et al., 2019). As of 2017, about 16 percent of the American population was elderly (Jones et al., 2016, Izurieta et al., 2019). Being elderly, the woman is unable to do a lot of things by herself and requires some specialized help (Zeng et al., 2019). The second aspect that makes her disadvantaged is that she is depressed. The prevalence rate of loneliness among the elderly who live alone is escalating. Loneliness in the woman might have been as a result of been living alone (Pilania et al., 2019; Zhao et al., 2018). The aging survey conducted in the United States in 2014 shows that eight percent of the senior citizens in the country reported feeling loneliness (DiJulio et al., 2018). Some of the factors associated with elderly loneliness include deaths of spouse, leaving the workplace, illness, and being no longer the hub of their family (Abbas et al., 2020; Emerson et al., 2018). Needs of the Elderly;

Discuss whether the needs of the disadvantaged lady were met by current ambulance practice

To be honest, I think that the Paramedic was very cruel to the woman. It is true that the lady could not continue staying at the facility and could not certainly be left on the street. In short, the needs of the old woman were not met by the current ambulance practice. This is because nobody was willing to listening to her reasons for not going to her rural home. The lady seemed very sad and depressed by the whole issue. The Paramedic appeared quite short tempered and didn’t try to engage with her in any kind of deeper conversation about what was troubling her. The nurses were aware that the lady had depression and was afraid living alone. Although I understood that the situation was time consuming, I felt like she was not treated with much respect, and that her needs were not met at all.

Recommend a proposal that can help to minimize the marginalization

The most effective way to minimize loneliness and depression among the seniors in the U.S is enacting a policy that ensures that their autonomy is respected. This means that thecare providers should always do according to the wishes of a patient (Kilbride & Joffe, 2018). The nurses in the case, for example, could have taken time to listen to the wishes of the woman before making a decision. Had the nurses listened to the wishes of the owoman, they would have resolved the issue before calling the Royal Flying Doctors. This would have been ethical and would have helped to save the time wasted during the arguments.

In conclusion, the needs of the woman in the case were not met. The woman is in the category of disadvantaged people because she is old and depressed. Loneliness among the elderly in the United States is associated with the death of a partner, leaving the workplace, illness and being no longer the hub of their family. I recommend the enactment of a policy that ensures that the autonomy of the elderly is respected.