CASE
You are a medical social worker for the past 15 years. Since 2019, you have been noticing an increase in the incidence of suspected elder abuse. The latest suspected case is 70 years old Mr. Genes. He came to your office accompanied by his 22 years old granddaughter (Genie). He was complaining of aches all over his body and a severe headache for the past three days. During the interview, he disclosed that he has been out of medication for about three weeks, but he was waiting until his appointment date before he returned to clinic. To make up for the lack of medication, he used some garlic and turmeric with cucumber juice for his chronic conditions.
On entering your office, you observed that Mr. Gene was limping, and he had a bruise to his right elbow. This was concerning for you, so you asked him if it was his inability to afford medication or his medical issues that brought him to you today. However, before Mr Gene could respond, his granddaughter said “yes doc, that is basically why we come today. Him hopping a bit, but that is because he had a fall a couple days ago”. This piqued your concern, so you asked her to wait outside because you wanted to speak with your client alone for a few minutes. After Genie left the room, you asked Mr Gene about his limp and the bruise to his elbow. He however looked scared and did not respond. Further observation revealed that Mr Gene may be under-weight and his clothing was slightly soiled and malodourous.
You asked Genie to return to the room, then asked her to further explain how Mr Gene fell. She declared “him have sugar (diabetes) and pressure (hypertension) and him don’t want to stop drink alcohol, so him walk and tumble down”. You glance at Mr Gene for confirmation, but he averted his head and kept staring at the floor. For the rest of the meeting, when asked any question, Mr Gene would defer to his granddaughter to answer.
A check of Mr Gene’s docket revealed that he had not been for follow-up care in more than six months. It revealed also that he was having poor and/or failing eyesight. Genie stated that Mr Gene missed his appointments because she has very little time or money to help. She said “things are difficult” on her and her three children. They live with Mr Gene in a two-bedroom board dwelling, with modern conveniences. She is a bar attendant and is the only source of income in the household.
Instructions to students:
For this assignment: Design detailed intervention plans to address issue(s) in the case, at the
You are also required to:
i. Provide evidence-based background information on diversity issues inherent in the case.
ii. Discuss strengths and/or gaps in measures or systems in place (in your country), to address the issue(s) at hand.
iii. Provide recommendations to address the gap(s) identified.
Assignment Description:
Your written analysis will take the form of an essay, which needs to provide the following information:
1. Main demographics of this case and construct an eco-map of this family.
2. Main and/or compound issues presented; making a distinction between the main and compounded issues.
3. Are those issues social problems? What makes them social ills? Use factual data to support your response.
4. The Caribbean family characteristics shown in the case.
5. Any areas of risk explicitly shared or implied in the case study.
6. The coping capacity of the family, with theoretical evidence to support your response.
7. The plan of action you propose to implement in order to deal with this family’s situation. Be specific about the issues you plan on addressing in order of importance and provide valid support for your responses. Make use of the knowledge you have gained about resources available to handle specific issues and provide a detailed plan.
