Our worsening attitude to the elderly

Laurie Friedman-Fannin has written a thought-provoking column about our seniors and the care they get.

Speaking from personal experience, she talks about a Vermont programme called HomeCare in which older folk who need care can stay in their own home and be visited by a trained caregiver.

Ironically, this treatment is far less expensive than moving to a care home, and yet Medicare wouldn’t pay for it.

Native Americans, Asian and African cultures revere their elders. They see them as a wellspring of knowledge and experience, tellers of tales and keepers of history.

When did we start worshipping at the altar of youth? When did it become acceptable to look like Joan Rivers at 70, a plastic caricature of growing old with grace? When did our aged become inconveniences to be deposited out of sight and out of mind?

I realize a nursing home is often the only alternative. There are family and health issues that can leave us with no other choice. I also know the majority of nursing homes are good, clean places, staffed by caring people who do their very best to make the lives of their residents comfortable and enjoyable. They are to be applauded.

None of that changes the fact that they’re basically warehouses where people go to await the inevitable. Loss of dignity is an unavoidable side effect of not being allowed to die, for whatever reason, where we did our living.

Read the full article: Seniors deserve better care