Patient: Miki Huang

Patient: Miki Huang

Date of Birth: 09/05/1926

PERSONA

Miki Huang is 96 years old. She is widowed with three children, and the eldest daughter (Linda) lives at home with her in their townhouse in Metro Vancouver. Immigrating from Taiwan 27 years ago, her other two children moved back home to Taichung for work. She has seven grandchildren and nine great grandchildren. Miki communicates with her family by telephone and video calls using her large-format flip phone. Miki describes herself as a non-smoker and social drinker, and is also a retired math teacher, although she studied fashion in school. She spends a lot of her time calling her lifelong friends back in Taiwan, but even more time is dedicated to singing familiar old Taiwanese and Japanese tunes, a common passion in the family. At home, she has a karaoke machine connected to the television, set up for her by her son who visited years ago. There is nothing she enjoys more than an afternoon with all her favourite songs queued up. Sometimes, she looks back with nostalgia on the years that have flown by in this new country, and a part of her feels gloomy because she knows she would get out of the house more if only her English skills were more advanced. Ever since her fall 6 years ago, which resulted in a hip fracture, she constantly worries about falling again while Linda is working; however, due to her larger ego, she actively tries to maintain an image of independence and autonomy. Miki never learned to drive even back in Taiwan, and since her English skills are very limited, her daughter picks up her high blood pressure medication for her and drives her to the walk-in clinic when needed (although Miki hates going).