Is there a gerontologist in the house?

* This post was originally written Aug 6th, but for whatever reason forgot about it and didn't post it until now.

As an undergrad, I found that telling people I was a psychology major would elicit interesting responses. Often people I had just met would be telling me intimate details of their lives asking for my "expert" advice. Despite my insisting that an undergraduate degree did not make me a therapist I had cases like the barber who wanted to know how to handle his wife who he was sure hated him. Then there was the new coworker who wanted to know if I thought it was wise for her to pursue a relationship with her old high school sweetheart now that she was divorced. Other times it was just the individual who wanted affirmation that her roommate was indeed mentally ill.

Now that I am pursuing a degree in gerontology, I find that the questions have switched to the topic of aging relatives. I'm actually much more comfortable with these topics. Perhaps it has something do with the fact that I'm much more opinionated about nursing homes, dementia, and arthritis than I ever was about relationship issues. It may also have something to do with the fact that I feel much more informed about these issues. After all, in my program we turn out on average one or two research papers per week on these very subjects.

Giving opinions is one thing, but it is quite another when you are actually called upon to do something because of your degree. Allow me to highlight this point with two examples.

Recently at the library my mom and I came across an older woman crying. My mom called me over, "Shaun, go use your gerontology skills to help this woman."
Her wording amused me and seemed to imply that gerontology was a talent like playing piano or practicing a martial art rather than a field of study. Often times in academics it's easy to feel as if all your studies are just teaching you how to write research papers rather than actually perform any service. Unfortunately, even if we were at the library, I was pretty sure this woman was not looking for help with her research.

It turns out this woman was upset because she had no idea where her daughter was. Her daughter was right around the corner and was quite offended that we would stop to help her crying mother.

Second story:

Last Saturday I received a call from my mom requesting my gerontology skills once more. There was a man who appeared to have dementia wandering our street without a shirt and reporting that he was lost. Once again I felt like my gerontology background did not give me an advantage over anybody else. You don't need a degree in gerontology to call the police for help with a missing person. He told me that he had just moved to the area and that he just got confused. He was sure he would recognize the house.

My initial thought was that he was obviously demented and there was no reason to trust his story. I began thinking of what, if anything, I had learned that would apply to this situation. I suddenly remembered a class where a guest lecturer talked about how she would always train the police to suspend disbelief and assume for a moment that an older person is telling the truth. I got him some water and we got in my car to drive him around the block. He immediately identified a house as his but after ringing the doorbell changed his mind. I began to waiver in my suspension of disbelief. He wanted to drive one more block. To my surprise he jumped out of my car at a house with a moving van in front. He really had just moved to the area.