Blog 1 - empathy map

Empathy map 

For 3 years I worked in a nursing home for elder people. I have been seeing the differences between my perception of the world and theirs. Therefore I found myself wondering about how big the differences are and what they focus on when they look at the their surroundings. So to get a better understanding of this target and their choices I will do an empathy map on a 70 year old woman from Denmark that I have been taking care of regularly for the last 3 years, lets call her Anna.

Anna is a very complex person that has been trough a lot in her life. She is starting to get Alzheimer, which influences how she thinks and feel. This have changed her, she is more aware of the things that have meaning and counts for her. She appreciates every thing that reminds her of her earlier life. Old paintings, books she knows, not modern food (the food has changed a lot in Denmark in her life span) and talking about it all to people even if she does not know them that well.

Anna has been working as a social helper until she retired as 66 years old. Her work meant a lot to her and still does. She worries about when she will no longer be able to remember her stories because they mean so much to her and have helped others trough tough times.

Anna is spending much time at home, but every week her daughter or her son comes and they will shop together for what she needs. She has learned to shop online and that makes her more open to the changing environment. But even though Anna tries to follow the environment she finds that it can be difficult and often the market is not easy for elder people, everything is done over the internet, the bank in her town closed, so now she has to talk with them online instead which makes her uncomfortable.

In her years working for the social helpers, she got many friends both from her job but also some that she helped get a better life. They appreciate her and visit regularly; most of them are at the same age so they have the same taste in clothes, books and so on.

 

Every time I visit Anna she is so positive, she is the kind of person that have chocolate and coffee ready when you walk in. When she is in public you can fell the respect all her friends have for her and that transforms into a strong aura strangers fell to, but sometimes because of her Alzheimer she gets really confused which makes her angry and nervous. But even though there are accidents like that people still speaks highly about her. 

When the Alzheimer takes her she keeps repeating one story about a man that was sexual abusing his kids and when she found out the man tried to make her silent by saying that he would kill her if she told anybody. Therefore she went to her boss to report it. One of the reasons she tell this story with pride is because the boss said that she was one of the best at handling difficult situations and understanding when something was wrong.

Anna both tells the story with pride but you can also hear that she fears the people behind the people she helped. She told me that her last name is so special that they could find her fast and that makes her scared. But the biggest obstacle in her life is Alzheimer. It is what she talks mostly about and what she tries to get away by keeping all her old stuff close even though she knows that it is coming closer.  

Anna hopes that her Alzheimer does not get worse, but if it does she hopes that she will get the right kind of treatment and have people around her that support her and can help her remember a little. She fell like she has had the success she needs in life, she had a great husband, 2 lovely children, a fantastic job and much more. But she still hopes that the future will bring more happiness and that she will be able to understand the evolution of the technology so she is as non-dependent as possible.