Foundation Course Mary PDF

FOUNDATION COURSE MARY Surfing the Age-Wave! This FOUNDATION COURSE is designed for professionals and businesses who serve older adults in the marketplace, aiming to enhance their understanding of becoming age-friendly service providers who respect and support the...

FOUNDATION COURSE MARY Surfing the Age-Wave! This FOUNDATION COURSE is designed for professionals and businesses who serve older adults in the marketplace, aiming to enhance their understanding of becoming age-friendly service providers who respect and support the needs of older adults. With practical examples and actionable tips, this course ensures you will have the knowledge base needed to offer compassionate and responsive engagement to your mature clientele. Welcome Meet MARY Adapting to Hearing Challenges Transportation & Connection Aging and Sensory Changes: Assumptions Aging and Sensory Changes: Facts MARY: Summary of Learning KNOWLEDGE CHECK STUDY NOTES END ITEM 1 of 10 Welcome Accessibility is not just a feature; its a fundamental right. We rise by lifting others, and true service is lifting with respect and compassion. Rho nda Latreille, CEO , Age Friendly Business®, Canada “ Welcome back! Next I would like to introduce you to Mary. She is in her early 80's and is looking forward to this year's cruise. Through this course we will discuss some experiences that she has in her preparations that are typical of many older persons accessing services in the community.” Rick (Your Course Narrator and Guide) C O NT I NU E ITEM 2 of 10 Meet MARY “ Now let's meet Mary. She continues to lead an active life and enjoys good health. In preparation for her cruise, Mary is using a birthday gift certificate to try out a new high end hair salon. Mary uses public transit regularly and since she has never gone to this particular salon before, is asking the transit operator directions. It is a warm day, and the windows are open, letting in a lot of outside road noise. The operator realizes that Mary is having difficulty hearing and shuts the side window and the door and offers the information one more time.” Rick (narration) “Every year or two I love to go on a cruise holiday. I get to discover new places and to meet interesting people. I also feel that it is a very safe way for me to travel because so many of my needs are met.” - Mary C O NT I NU E ITEM 3 of 10 Adapting to Hearing Challenges "While pointing out a future direction that Mary will take the operator makes a classic mistake of moving his head away from Mary and in the direction, he is pointing to.  Can you think of why this would make it more difficult for Mary to hear and understand the message?" Rick (Narration) Clear and Helpful Communication  “ Background noises can easily drown out peoples voices. I'm often reading their lips just as much as I am listening to what they say!” - Mary C O NT I NU E ITEM 4 of 10 Transportation & Connection “ Did you know that our need for independence and feeling connected to our communities stays with us throughout our lifetime? Transportation plays a key role in being able to access services, public and social events and to keep up with our interpersonal connections. As people reduce their own driving and reliance on their vehicles, public transportation more than ever, needs to offer accessible, safe and customer friendly alternatives.” Rick (narration) Transportation Solutions “ Many communities recognize the serious risk of isolation when community access is jeopardized. Because of this, some communities are implementing programs to encourage seniors to access public transit more regularly and provide incentives for local taxi companies to offer substantial savings to seniors. Think of the difference this can make in seniors’ quality of life when their contribution and participation are encouraged and supported. Imagine how difficult it might be for you if you were not able to easily spend time with your friends, access services or engage with your community.” Rick (narration) “ Typically, seniors have an extremely low rate of bus ridership, often are not sure how to access public transit, and are concerned about personal safety and comfort, especially while waiting for a bus during poor weather. Transportation agencies are beginning to recognize the need to improve schedule reliability, minimize physical barriers, such as steep or long stairs, on buses or in subway stations. Make sure bus stops provide shelter from the outside elements. Provide vehicles for special events. Find ways to welcome and educate people who are not accustomed to using transit. Provide additional training like this course for transit operators and taxi drivers so they can better understand and serve the needs of older riders.” Rick (narration) " Travelling on the bus and subway systems can be a bit intimidating but I want to stay engaged and active so I make a point of going often to keeping my confidence up. - Mary C O NT I NU E ITEM 5 of 10 Aging and Sensory Changes: Assumptions Until you understand your customers deeply and genuinely you cannot truly serve them. Rasheed O gunlaru “ Mary has arrived at the hair salon and is explaining to the stylist how she wants her hair done. A product wholesaler named Jan comes in to demonstrate a new line of perfumes she wants the salon to sell. Jan approaches Mary and asks her what she thinks of the new scents. She lets Jan know that she prefers this spray bottle over the perfume bottle because her sense of smell is deteriorating, and she fears putting on too much without knowing it.” Rick (narration) “ Mary is delighted to be asked, and she shares that many times in stores she is ignored when they are demonstrating beauty care products. She wonders if they think older women are no longer interested in being attractive or smelling nice. Hmm. Remember our earlier discussion about ageism? Would you consider this a type of ageism? Even though Mary knows the oversight was not intentional, the impact and result can still hurt. Jan says she can appreciate how Mary feels, and she remembers hearing about how a local business group in a popular retirement area conducted an informal poll of its senior citizens and found that many older individuals felt ignored and invisible when entering businesses serving the main part of the city.” Rick (narration)  "I love perfume. I know that there are many scent-free environments now, and people's tolerance for strong smells has changed, and I can't always trust my sense of smell to tell me how strong a scent is, so I really appreciate sales people who assist me to select perfumes with all of these things in mind." - Mary C O NT I NU E ITEM 6 of 10 Aging and Sensory Changes: Facts "Did you know that as we age, we progressively lose our taste sensitivity to sweet and salty foods while our bitter taste buds survive much longer. This would explain why you may have noticed that older persons tend to use more salt on their meals and sugar in their tea and coffee.  Additionally, the sense of smell reduces and sensitivity as we age and this can pose a real danger when we can no longer smell potential gas leaks or food that has gone bad." Rick (narration) While reduction in sense of smell are a minor annoyance for some people, they can affect a seniors eating habits, health, quality of life and safety. Here are some recommendations for supporting SCENT reduction: T ake a brisk walk or run as the sense of smell is higher after 1 exercise. 2 Check medicat ions to determine if there may interfere with senses of smell and taste. And if so, investigate some alternatives.  And this may sound strange but always wear a seat belt 3 because even low impact crashes contain delicate nerves between the nose and brain. Humidif y air in wint er as the sense of smell is stronger in 4 summer with high moisture content in the air. 5 And encourage older persons who live on their own to inst all CO2 and gas alarms. 00:39 (Click to hear audio narration of text above) The common experience of a change in an older persons sense of taste causes a reduced ability to perceive flavors and textures.  Here are some recommendations for supporting TASTE reduction: 1 Watch for weight loss and signs of a t ea and t oast diet. (poor nutrition) To avoid excess use of salt and sugar, encourage t he use of 2 ot her spices. It stimulates the experience of sweet and savory. Serve f ood t hat looks like it self. Keep fish looking like fish 3 because the sense of taste is stronger when your brain can connect with what it looks like. 4 Eat wit h ot her people; food tastes better in social gatherings. Avoid very hot f luids and f ood as these can damage taste 5 buds. 00:47 (Click to hear audio narration of text above)  "A couple of years ago I really noticed my lack of appetite and enthusiasm for meals was affecting my health. I had to push myself to eat because nothing was appealing to me. My best friend is a nurse and she and I did some research together on ways to deal with my loss of taste and smell. I do still need to work at it, but I find if I put in the effort to focus on food colours and the presentation of food on my plate it helps me enjoy food in a new way. - Mary C O NT I NU E ITEM 7 of 10 MARY: Summary of Learning A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption of our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider of our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us the opportunity to do so.” Mahatm a Gandhi "We have covered a lot in Mary's scenario: Changes in smell and taste, access to transportation, the ongoing need to be connected to our community, the correct way to give information and directions, and most importantly, the destructive impact of feeling ignored, forgotten or unimportant. Take a moment now to list how you and your work environment can be more sensitive to these issues." Rick (narration)  "Ageism can still be hurtful, even if it is unintended." - Mary This FOUNDATION COURSE, 'MARY' equips you with the skills to effectively serve mature adults by highlighting some age- related changes older persons experience and by focusing on some age-friendly practices. Actionable skills needed to serve them effectively include: Fost er a cult ure of underst anding. Encourage a mindset that values the experiences and contributions of older adults. Older adult s of t en f ace barriers t o using public t ransit. Addressing safety and accessibility is crucial for their participation. A decline in t he qualit y of t ast e and smell are common f or aging persons. These changes can affect comfort as well as safety in some circumstances.  Combat ageism. Be aware of biases that may lead to older customers feeling ignored or undervalued. By applying these insights and strategies, you can significantly enhance your ability to serve and engage with older adults effectively. C O NT I NU E ITEM 8 of 10 KNOWLEDGE CHECK ITEM 9 of 10 STUDY NOTES ITEM 10 of 10 END Thank you for completing the course!