Published: 11 October 2022
Report after report and survey after survey continuously shows us the same information when researching what is important to us as we age. Staying in our own home for as long as is safely possible is the number one wish on our list. This is also the reason why Wrist-Assured exists - to help encourage and promote independence. If we know what our older people need why are we not meeting their needs? Why do we hear people begging year after year for change and for help, especially in our rural areas, and yet we continue to cut the services available to them?
The banks are closing, forcing our elderly to use internet banking or rely on others for help. The local shops are closing, forcing our elderly to travel to get their milk and bread. Local travel is becoming impossible due to bus services being cut or discontinued completely.
Rural services are disappearing every day and through this we are robbing our older people of their independence. We are forcing our older people to rely on others for their daily needs when so many are more than capable of taking care of themselves but are unable to do so through the loss of local services. There has been quite a lot of focus on redeveloping our rural areas in recent times, but the loss of local amenities continues. We are consciously forcing our older people to become dependent rather than helping them stay independent.
We are making our older people feel like a burden - shame on us!
The report, Agency and Ageing in Place in Rural Ireland based on information from 2020/2021 reinforces once again what we already know and what it is that is important to us as we age.
AgencyandAgeinginPlaceinRuralIrelandReport2022-1.pdf (ucc.ie)