ABSTRACT
Among the major factors determining happiness and optimism among the elderly are good health, adequate finances, a healthy spouse, and family and community supports, all of which contribute to maintaining self-esteem and a purpose in life. Loss of health was the primary concern of the elderly whom the author saw when she worked as a medical social worker within a hospital-based home care program. This chapter describes two home care cases to illustrate the importance of “grief work” in maintaining health and a purpose in life. One concerns loss of a beloved person, the other loss of a creative outlet, exacerbating gastrointestinal illnesses in both cases. Through the combined efforts of families, friends, and health care professionals from many disciplines, most elderly home health care patients survived their health crises, with its accompanying depression. They could and often did resume purposeful lives within their homes and communities.
