Make time to visit and chat
ONE of the most important, and often overlooked, aspects of caring for our elderly is the need for one-to-one contact and company. Very often the preoccupation with medical needs and assisting people with the best possible community support schemes takes precedence over the need for simple human contact. And while there’s no disputing the importance that comes with providing our senior citizens with the best medical support there is, it’s sometimes the simple things in life that can drift by unnoticed.
Among these simple and cost-free forms of therapy is the good old fashioned chat over a cup of tea. This is vital for elderly people who suddenly find themselves alone for long stretches of the day, perhaps due to their family having all grown up and left the nest. Likewise, a lifetime’s partner may be deceased and all of a sudden a person has to adjust to being alone in a familiar, though now silent, house. Loneliness has a devastating impact on elderly people and can very often accelerate the aging process due to stress, worry and anxiety.
For many elderly people, particularly those living alone in rural areas, a simple trip to the post office to collect their pension can bring welcome respite from the lack of human contact; or even a visit from the postman can very often be the only contact people have from week to week. The irony of such emotional devastation is that it’s easy to remedy. How? Well, by simply ensuring that those who are able to visit elderly people, do so. Community centres across the county do Trojan work in this regard helping to organise and host many different activities for senior citizens that not only help stimulate personal interests and hobbies, but also human interaction.
Youth Clubs also play a vital role within their respective localities as young people call on the elderly to chat and carry out errands. There’s also an onus on citizens within the wider community who know of people living alone. It doesn’t require much investment of time and energy to pop by and ask “how are you?” and “can I do anything for you?”
Visiting elderly people can equally be good for one’s personal education as the stories, wisdom and lifetime of experience is all there waiting to be untapped by the wise person smart enough to know there is much to learn. Even within families a roster can be arranged for members to take turns at visiting so they can be spread out across the week rather than just everyone turning up on Sunday morning. It’s easy to be wise after the fact and while many groups and societies do their utmost to ensure senior citizens receive the best care there is; it’s often the simple things that matter most and one of the most important investments of all is time itself.