Dilemma
Of The Aged

At the best of times, old-age is fraught with difficulties - loneliness, stiff limbs, painful joints, failing eyesight, poor hearing, depression, feelings of meaninglessness, physical weakness, fear, and general ill health, are just some of the unwelcome visitors that commonly call on the elderly at some time during their sunset years.

Yet, despite these various challenges, a loving, sympathetic family can make life just so much more bearable and so much more dignified for the aged. For all too many Senior Citizens, however, love and sympathy are not always forthcoming from family members and, in all too many cases, aged parents are barely tolerated at home. Often they are even abused. In many cases Senior family members are conveniently "dumped" in an old-age home and all but forgotten.

Yet problems amongst the elderly do not necessarily come to an end when they enter an old-age home. In this strange age in which we live some old-age "homes" are proving to be anything but the havens of rest that we would like to believe them to be. Frequent cases of neglect, elder abuse and outright cruelty have made the news in recent years. As a direct result of this negative publicity, more and more of the aged and the aging population are making desperate efforts to ensure that they are able to live out their final years in the community. Most of these "old friends" see Meals on Wheels For The Aged as a vital component in their future plans. Undoubtedly this is one of the many factors that is going to put tremendous pressure on the Meals on Wheels For The Aged service in years to come.

Then there is the problem of finances. Most of those who make up the retired population of today will have made some provision for their retirement in their earlier years. Many of these would have started making such provision way back in the 1920's and the 1930's - in the good old days before inflation reared its ugly head. At that time, for example, a retirement annuity or policy that paid out the equivalent of R6,000 at the age of 65 would have seemed to have been more than adequate - for at that time such a princely sum would have bought no less than two houses and at least one car. When these policies finally did mature, however, it was found that the sum assured or invested was hopelessly inadequate. Today R6,000 may put a fence around your house - little more. Thus even those who made what would have seemed like bounteous provision for their retirement were caught somewhat flat-footed by an economic monster called inflation.

For those who were not able to make any provision for the future, their retirement years are extremely difficult at best. In a typical case, a husband and wife can barely survive on their two pensions. The one partner's pension will pay the rent, the other partner's pension will provide food and basic necessities. When one of the partners passes on, however, the rent still has to be paid, and basic necessities still have to be provided for, but these expenses must be met out of one pension cheque instead of two. It is in such cases in particular that the Meals on Wheels service becomes a life saving necessity.

Then we need to mention the many pensioners whose retirement years have been turned into an ongoing nightmare by circumstances that are beyond their control. Some who were once considered to be fairly well off have been impoverished by medical bills related to extended illness. Others again have lost their life partner and are having a tremendous struggle with that relentless foe called loneliness. Tens of thousands have been rendered helpless through physical handicap and through crippling diseases such as Parkinson’s Syndrome, Multiple Sclerosis and Alzheimer’s.

In more recent years, crime has added yet another unwanted dimension to the lives of the elderly. Sad to say, criminals have now singled out pensioners as being particularly "soft targets," and muggings on the aged have become common place. As unbelievable as this may sound, more and more elderly are being raped - sometimes under the most sordid of circumstances.

All in all, life is not easy for the elderly today. For far too many, life is just downright difficult. 

If not for Meals on Wheels for the Aged, and for kind people like you, one can only wonder what our struggling Senior Citizens would do. Thank you for helping Meals on Wheels to make a whole world of difference.