Old Age - When You Need Help The Most

A man's lifespan is usually divided into five major stages’ viz., infancy, childhood, youth, adulthood as well as old age. In each of this stage, a person finds himself in diverse situations and faces diverse complications. Old age is also not devoid of problems. During old age physical power declines, mental strength weakens; money influence turns out to be bleak, in addition to lack of care from the younger age group.

Problems that elderly people face:

Loneliness

Week financial status

Deteriorating health

Loss of their status in society

With age, people often lose their ability to complete their own responsibilities and have to depend on external help, if available. Age related problems like psychological or physical disabilities pose a big obstacle even in carrying out simple everyday tasks like going up to the local store for milk/foodstuffs or newspaper or going to the bank, etc. Older persons face a difficult time on the road. A few even experience physical discomfort while driving like vertigo, cramping, joint pain or headache which can result in an accident and/or physical injury. Poor memory, which turns out to be a companion to some elderly people, can be unsafe too and pose both security and safety dangers, as elders might tend to leave the burner on, forget to lock the entrance of home, or are unable to keep up with the personal hygiene.

India has the second highest population of elderly people in the world with millions more than the age of 60 years. Increasing life expectancy as well as a decline in fertility rate are the major reasons behind this.

Caring for the elderly: A social responsibility

A majority of the elderly population lives in rural India and the rest in the urban. Issues like literacy level, financial independence; age-old dependency ratio, illnesses and other health effects differ.

Because of financial dependency, aged women suffer the most. All seniors are vulnerable to disabilities, dementia as well as other physical and mental illnesses. A lot of elderly in rural areas and urban areas suffer from at least one or more of these health complications, the latter being more vulnerable to stress-related problems like heart diseases and blood pressure. 

With fast urbanization and a change in socio-economic priorities, traditional family structures as well as values have changed, too. The trend of nuclear families is more widespread than joint families. To make matters worse, the rising rate of old-age physical complaints and lack of cheap geriatric services adds pressure on families. Illiteracy, insufficient financial savings/opportunities as well as fast-paced life leave the elderly neglected. Meager old age pension given by the government is not enough.

Considering all the problems that the elderly are facing these days, there is a steep rise in the social work organizations activities for offering help for the elderly in India. Each non profit organisation in India have their own style of working for a cause, but the objective is same - to make the life of the elderly blissful by providing them a home to live, care they need and love they seek from their own.

So, now if you see any elderly suffering in their own home or on the streets, don’t just sit there, sit up and provide them your support, take them to an NGO and if possible be a volunteer or donate.