Overview of Older People, Ageing and Diabetes, the Disease

Older people are individuals: they are not defined by their age or their diabetes. Ageing is unique to every individual. Chronological age is not a good indicator of health status or care needs. Health status in older age is influenced by genetics and lifestyle behaviours in younger age. Increasing age is a risk factor for diabetes. Most older people have type 2 diabetes but people with type 1 diabetes survive to older age and type 1 can be first diagnosed in older age. It is essential to personalise care with the individual and to use a proactive, risk identification and minimise approach. [A volunteer in an aged care home for veterans] spent two hours listening to one of the ladies on the lawn talk about working for Ziegfeld. Afterward the woman apologized profoundly for ‘boring you with my stories.’ Vivian could have listened for two more hours and not realized time going by. These people were not just old veterans. They were living history books dismissed by almost everyone stupid enough to think they were not worth reading.