Not caring for our elderly

Port Hills Labour Women's group were shocked at a recent meeting on care for the elderly. We were told about some of the issues around elder abuse that have been aired nationally in the news and then moved on to aspects of mental and physical health for the elderly.

This week the Press reported a Canterbury psychiatrist saying that "Health professionals need to wake up and realise caring for older people is a core activity". Dr Nugent talked about the need for society to value our elderly and how loneliness can be a factor in depression for the elderly.

Care workers present at the meeting talked about the change in atmosphere around the way they work, with the emphasis being placed on work and not care. As a group we thought about the things that we could individually do for the elderly in our lives.

Small things can make a big difference - saying hello to elderly people as you walk past them, stopping to chat to elderly people you know slightly, inviting elderly people to dinner once a week.

For those people dependant upon medical or in-home support the outlook is looking difficult at present, with cuts across both sectors. An article in the latest New Zealand Medical Journal Digest by Otago University senior lecturer Matthew Croucher said care of the elderly was, "becoming the core activity of general hospital-based medicine and surgery in New Zealand".

Stats show that 2/3 admissions to Christchurch Public Hospital were for over 65s who make up only 13.6 per cent of the population in the Canterbury District Health Board area.