Interview_Essay

Marian Alli White HEA 109 Assignment 5 4/12/09. Interview My interviewee name is Marian Alli. She is seventy-five years old; she is my mother-in-law, rose in Africa (Nigeria), now lives in America and separated from her husband many years ago and became a widow last year. She have six children, works has a small scale business woman in her past year and presently living with her daughter and babysit two children with her grandchildren. She was a very hardworking woman, enjoys being around families, she was a Christian and a GOD fearing woman, believes in the doctrine of Christianity. Her health status while she was in Nigeria was good because she has families around, have her business running good , takes care of her children , close friends to discuss issues with when bored, take vacations to visit her children in different Cities and states that relax her and make her feel happy but being in America today, she is not able to travel back and forth or visit her other children in United State if need to travel by Air. She did not have her age mate to interact with , only in church or her prayer groups which she really likes and her grandkids that keeps motivating her because sometimes she feel bored and misses her friends, neighbors, loved ones and other families in Africa . She is waiting on her immigration papers so that she can travel back home to visit friends and families which contribute to her health problem now because she likes being independent without disturbing other people for things needed. Presently, she has High Blood Pressure and Hypertension; she is on medication to treat the diseases and to try to eat healthy foods and exercise. The chronic issues she had dealt with is her separation from her husband and being a single mother, raising six children by herself and going through difficult times in her past. Firstly, she was not treated nicely in the health care system because she is a foreigner., she fell down on the snow and broke her ankle, rushed to the emergency and was asked of her insurance card which she did not understand what it meant and the staff at the registration desk was rude and impatience with her, so her daughter was called but she felt she has not been treated nicely. Doctors/Nurses think she does not understand English language but the problem is the accent she has while speaking English. She did not understand the term of the disease she has, meanings, and how to control it and need more explanations from the doctors/nurses. I happened to witness how she was treated in the health care system, I took her to the emergency room because her Blood Pressure was high and she has difficult time in understanding the doctors, so I have to interpret easily and slowly in the way she will understand and explain in details what the doctors were saying but now she is more familiar with her doctors, speaks gently and slowly in the way the doctors understand everything she says. She still have High Blood Pressure and Hypertension but handles it much better because she goes for her routine check-ups and ask questions about her medications if she notice any changes to her doctor, goes for mammogram test and uses her medication on timely basis and also conscious of what she eat (salty food and lessen fried food). She understand not to stress herself too much and always advices us that woman should be responsible, respectful, prayerful and being a good role model for our children and to have the courage, endurance to faces challenges in life.