I was at a dinner party on Saturday night. It was one of those over 50 events where the subject of recent operations usually seems to dominate. Fear of dying badly has been popular topic of conversation for some time, but recently I have noticed that fear of ageing badly in a rest home has been added to it. Perhaps it is the reporting of events about rest homes in the media that has created this new fear.
The NZ Herald had two reports over the week end. One on Saturday covered the case of a 100 year old lady (‘a very astute and alive woman’) who died badly from the events following her undiagnosed scabies attack. Her Tauranga rest home had apparently been negligent. ‘Family counts the cost of ageing’ NZ Herald Nov 6 2010 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/news/print.cfm?objectid=10685692On Sunday, as if to reinforce this fear of rest homes, another article appeared about the state of rest home food: Rest home food shock
Now this is a fear about lack of personal control, not of poor rest homes. If the individuals concerned were able to stand up for themselves, this situation would not be happening. Or would it? The aged care sector is being overwhelmed by old people and most rest homes are businesses. A chilling paragraph from the article demonstrates the problem: ‘Several recent reports point to a tsunami of problems bearing down on the sector: a burgeoning ageing population; a lack of facilities; a lack of government money; and poor health standards, auditing and complaint procedures. A picture is emerging of a sector mostly run by multinationals more focused on profit than care, and stifled by a morass of bureaucracy with a low paid workforce
No wonder people are afraid. It may be your parents today – but it could be you tomorrow. I believe that the only way to prevent ageing badly is to look after ourselves now. Just like a Tsunami, when the disaster hits there will be no one there to help us – ‘they’ will not care about us; they will have their own issues. We need to have a plan to age well which includes physical fitness, brain fitness and social networks.
Some people will have no choice and will need care. Others among us have a choice and can take responsibility for ourselves if we start now.
I know which type of ageing I am choosing. I have started to take action. What will you choose?
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