Hayward Thues

Introduction

I chose to interview Hayward Thues for this paper. Hayward is an African American male and he is my paternal grandfather. Hayward was born in Ringgold, Louisiana in 1930 and is currently 86 years old. He relocated to Phoenix, Arizona, along with his mother and siblings when he was in his early teens. Hayward’s father died when he was very young, so he does not have any memories of him. Hayward currently lives with his wife, my paternal grandmother, and they have been married for 65 years. One of my oldest uncles also lives with my grandparents, as well as a few cousins. My grandparents typically have one or more family members residing with them at any given time; they have never lived alone together. My grandfather utilizes

He has had heart surgery, and as stated above, hospitalizations, for various reasons. However, when compared with others, it is amazing that his health did not begin to decline until he was well into his 70s. Hayward has always been very independent and has taken pride in his ability to care for his family, so it has been more difficult for him to accept help from his children. He shared that he does not like that they “try to control” him.

Hayward did express some regret that he has been unable to travel back to his hometown, for 20 years, due to his health and finances. His wife was a homemaker, so Hayward was the sole provider for their family and they had a very traditional household. Due to being the sole provider, their funds were limited when he retired. Furthermore, they have also incurred a large amount of debt with repairs and other costs that have arisen. In addition, some of their children are not very self-sufficient and they are sometimes asked to help with monetary

This theory examines systems within the person’s environment, for example, education, work, family, friends, religion, cultural practices, and health (Greene and Blundo, 2008). Systems is great when seeking to understand an individual and their environment. Many times when problems or concerns arise, it impacts the individual in many facets of their lives and it’s important to help the person understand this; it is also a great way for the person or family to be able to understand what is good and what might need some improvement. Systems theory in helping understand the person as whole in their environment. Shortcomings of systems theory might include concerns the theory is very broad and instead of offering explanations and recommendations, explores systems with no resolution (Van Wormer & Besthorn,