A SHOCKING DECLINE IN MORAL VALUES

Mar 25, 2014 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

In the days of yore when poverty was three times what it is today, the only time you would find an old person in a homestead for the elderly was when that person did not have any immediate family. An old person would never be institutionalized so long as he had sons, daughters and even nephews and nieces that were alive.
The homesteads for the elderly were for those who were indigent, with nowhere else to go. They ended up in those homes when they had nowhere to turn but the road. When in these homesteads, these persons would never enjoy a visit from family or friends. The only persons they met were those who worked at the institutions or those who came to visit at Christmas time to bring some treats for the inmates.
People took care of their elderly relatives. No matter how sick or confined someone became, they could always count on the support of their relatives. No matter how cramped was the living quarters of the relatives, space was always found for sick and elderly relatives.
I am not saying that the elderly who lived with family were always treated kindly. In fact, there are horror stories of exploitation and neglect. But no matter how bad things were, it was mainly unheard of for relatives, especially immediate family, to dump their relatives into a homestead. There was always a place for the elderly in homes.
Today we are becoming westernized. The elderly are being placed in home for the aged as soon as their productive days are over. Children, nephews, nieces and grandchildren are no longer as interested as the older generation in taking care of their elderly relatives. The quickest opportunity they have to place them in institutions, the better.
But what is indeed very sad is to see the large numbers of elderly and infirm patients at the public hospitals who have been abandoned by their relatives. It is a shocking statement about the change in morals in our country.
No wonder Guyana is so cursed with ill-luck. How can any good come to any county when some persons are so heartless as to abandon their sick elderly relatives in the hospital?
These persons were taken to the hospital for treatment. They are being abandoned. Even though they are fit to be discharged, they cannot be put out of the hospital because there is nowhere for them to go.
The hospital is between a rock and a hard place. If they discharge the elderly patients and these patients end up on the road, the hospital will be accused of being inhumane. But these patients have turned the hospital into a home for the destitute because they are fit to be discharged but they are still living in the hospital because they have been abandoned by their relatives who no longer wish to have the burden of taking care of them.
If these elderly persons were earning NIS pensions and had other sources of income, their relatives would have been fighting amongst themselves to take them in because the income from the elderly person would have been used to help defray the expenses of the household that is taking care of them.
This is one of the reasons why it is so shocking to witness the decline in concern for the elderly. The elderly in Guyana have never had it so goo. Today the NIS pension is very healthy, plus they receive old age pension.
This adds up to a good small piece every month and once this money is there, the relatives will want the elderly in their homes because they can benefit from all these social security benefits that the elderly are receiving at the moment.
But no sooner is it learnt that the elderly are not receiving NIS pensions, they are deposited in the hospital or put out in the streets. This is not right.
The solution is not to build more homesteads for these persons. The solution is to find families for them to live with.
When you reach a certain age, you need not only the physical security of family but also the emotional security of loved ones, something that is lacking in public institutions for the elderly. Old people need to be around their family; they need to live with them.
Unfortunately, the younger generation has no time or appreciation for the elderly. Instead of taking care of them and being happy to have the elderly in their homes, these aged persons are being put out to pasture.
Or rather the elderly are being deposited into the hospital where they are occupying critical bed space. It is great shame and a curse on this nation that these things are happening.

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A SHOCKING DECLINE IN MORAL VALUES

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