Social Workers

Retirement is one of the most important of life’s milestones in all societies. Its significance is overwhelming for all who have been reared to see their usefulness in terms of occupation. Work also provides social interaction and for many people who have retired this is what they miss most. It also provides a scaffolding for people’s lives and a place for them in society. The aging population continues to grow and become more diverse. This affords us the opportunity to plan, establish and administer programs and services that will celebrate the strengths of seniors, and provide for their needs.

Social work is at an important stage in its development. All professions must be responsive to changing social and economic conditions if they are to meet the needs of those they serve. It is crucial to older people’s sense of well-being that life has a meaningful purpose. Lack of material resources and hostile public attitudes are experienced as barriers to their being able to pursue opportunities to make life meaningful. The experts at De Metz believe that we need to understand people within the context of the whole of the life course, rather than using older age as a defining category and marking it out as somehow different and distinct.

There is a triangular relationship between the ageing body, how the self is experienced and the society in which it is located. For social workers working with older people, this means understanding the meaning an older person gives to their experience of inhabiting an ageing body, what this represents in terms of their sense of self and how this is influenced by particular social and cultural values.

Geriatric nursing is a comprehensive nursing care for the elderly that takes into account their needs in connection with diseases of older age, especially with specific geriatric syndromes and disease complications. De Metz social workers are highly trained and experienced professionals who coordinate the care of older patients in a variety of settings, including hospitals, community health clinics, long-term and residential health care facilities or their homes. Their knowledge is based on the interdisciplinary concept of social work, philosophical, psychological, sociological, ethical, political, legal, economic and other approaches.