Aged Care and Respect For the Elderly: : We Must Think Ahead (Scotland, UK)

We must ensure our old folk are treated with respect

By Colette Douglas-Home

12 Oct 2009

When you are old and grey and full of sleep and nodding by the fire, will your heart lift at the sound of your carers letting themselves in through your front door – or will it sink?

Will you welcome the move to a care home because you know you will live there in dignified comfort – or will your mind fill with dread at the prospect? According to figures revealed in the Herald yesterday, greeting the dependency of old age with optimism could be a triumph of hope over experience, unless we do something about it.

Abuse and neglect complaints about treatment in care homes were up 60% last year to 275. And while those involving “care at home” were much lower at 73, they showed a six-fold increase in five years. Since 2004 the Care Commission has recorded 1529 abuse and neglect complaints against care homes for adults, more than 800 of which were upheld. The graph is moving in the wrong direction.

We’re talking about the most vulnerable people in society suffering physical assault, theft, inadequate feeding or verbal mistreatment from those who are paid to look after them. We’re talking about our parents and grandparents. Sooner or later we will be talking about us. We must improve the system while we still have the clout to do so.

We’ve no intention of reaching dependency within 30 years but it better be good when we get there. That means paying close attention the next time we visit an elderly friend or relative. It means mentally slotting into their shoes, into their wheelchair and seeing how we will like the view when we no longer call the shots.


Abridged
SOURCE:   The Herald, Scotland, UK
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It is important for all of us to think ahead and to push for changes to how society treats the older people. 
Can we inculcate respect for our elderly?
The erosion of  'Respect for the Elderly' - Even in cultures that once revere older people; like India, China and some European countries, we are seeing more of disrespect, abuse and even abandonment of elderly.
It is sad to see that laws have to be enacted to ensure that the elderly are not abandoned or abused by their own family. But, this is the reality.


The only way to ensure that it does not happen when our time comes; we must act now. We need to highlight the problems and work with others to push for changes. Politicians must be lobbied to act NOW, regarding Aged Care and Human Rights violations that have seen many of our seniors abused or abandoned.


............... AC


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