The Eight Activities of Daily Living
-Use the toiletThis list looks pretty good to me. In fact, I've already done five of those things today and it's still only around two PM or so - I'm looking good to go eight for eight...
-Eat
-Dress
-Bathe
-Groom
-Get out of a bed
-Get out of a chair
-Walk
Seriously, though, these are all important things and each requires a basic level of mobility. If a doctor’s primary job was to make sure I could continue doing these things for as long as possible, I’d be fine with it. I would also be willing to bet that these remain the guidelines for a long time because the concepts covered here feel timeless to me.
Let’s look at the next list.
The Eight Activities of Independent Living
-Shopping for yourselfNow, this… what is this? This looks like the Bad Sophomore Album, piggybacking on the runaway smash success of ‘The Eight Activities of Daily Living’. Is there any reason why we needed eight more activities to determine how much function a person has?
-Preparing your own food
-Doing your own housekeeping
-Doing your own laundry
-Managing your medications
-Making phone calls
-Traveling on your own
-Handling finances
Like, make a phone call? Who makes phone calls anymore? I know some folks who’d assume a mutual friend had died if I they ever saw I was calling them. Plus, making a phone call probably requires at least the ability to get out of a bed or a chair, anyway, and those are covered in the first list.
There are a few other examples of repeat ideas in that second list. How is someone going to travel on their own if they can’t even dress themselves? Or walk? And is laundry really a good idea for someone who can’t bathe? I’d think the skin is more important to wash than a shirt, I suppose, but maybe that’s why I can’t own white things. And don’t get me started on ‘handling finances’…
