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AS WE ALL know, people are living longer, and the 65s+ now number one in nine of the population. In Positive Ageing Week, (September 27 – October 5) this a cause of celebration. The value of older people to family, friends and wider society is immense. Older people are still giving in their own communities as parents, grandparents, friends, neighbours, leaders, workers, volunteers, mentors, community activists, and continuing to contribute to society as a whole. And they have a lot to give. Experience drawn from a lifetime of work, learning and family life is needed in today’s Ireland.
Many older parents, are continuing to support adult children through financial help and childcare arrangements. Many towns and villages would have no parish council, no tidy towns committee, no fundraisers for the local football were it not for the organising ability of older people.
But while we have succeeded in adding years to the life, we have not been so successful in adding life to the years. While many older people are still embedded in the heart of their family and community, others have become increasingly isolated. It is a sad irony that in an age where people are more connected than ever through social networking and communication technology, so many older people in Ireland feel socially marooned.
Around 136,000 older people in Ireland live alone according to latest figures from the CSO. And while loneliness is different from being alone, many older people – already isolated through bereavement, disability or an isolated location – can find their solitary lives to be particularly difficult. Loneliness is a state of mind, characterised by feelings of sadness, desolation or even despair. We humans are social creatures, and a daily routine entrenched in unsought isolation makes for an unhealthy lifestyle, saps morale and can nudge towards depression and mental illness. Loneliness has actually been likened to cancer and heart disease in its corrosive effect on the body, mind and spirit.
Many older people in Ireland today cope with their loneliness by contacting the Senior Help Line. Senior Help Line is a confidential listening service for older people by trained older volunteers for the price of a local call anywhere in Ireland. It has been described as a primary health care service contributing significantly to older well being. Senior Help Line received over 28,000 calls from older callers throughout Ireland last year. People call to give meaning to their day, to know that someone is there, to hear a friendly voice, to tell us of their ups and downs, to say goodnight.
Some callers are lonely because they have been bereaved, because they have few family and friends left alive, because they are shy and find it difficult to mix. Some miss family who have moved abroad in recent years in our new wave of emigration. Other callers find it difficult to adjust to retirement and the loss of work colleagues it can involve. Senior Help Line trained volunteers support by listening empathetically and discussing caller options. When people feel very alone, being listened to can mean a lot.
A 2011 report by the Society of St Vincent DePaul into loneliness linked some older loneliness to the erosion of local communities and community infrastructure. The rural post office, the bank, the corner shop, the fair and the livestock mart were all part of the fabric of society contributing socially as well as commercially to the way people of all ages came together. Allied to this, a general decline in neighbourliness is another concern.
Technology, which can be such a benefit for us, can also be a huge hurdle to overcome. As more services migrate online, those without online skills become more isolated, and although this is not a problem exclusive to older people, it is more prevalent among this group.
Is loneliness in old age inevitable? The third age of life has the potential to open many new doors that were otherwise closed in times past, and there are many ways to combat loneliness. These can include participation in education programmes, (yes, you can teach old dogs new tricks), volunteering, taking up a new hobby, and learning a new skill. Think of painting, swimming, dancing, writing, gardening, joining your local active retirement association, becoming a voluntary driver, DIY, crafts, reading, finding a new challenge, and much, more.
However, for some people, combating loneliness it is not a simple matter of going out and joining a club. If they could, they would. Often what has caused the withdrawal from society has deeper roots including fears, shyness, introversion, and lack of confidence. Addressing these roots is the first step to breaking the barriers down.
This is where you and I come in. Society as a whole has a part to play in combating loneliness. Those of us with an older neighbour, friend, relative living alone could take time to phone or visit often. A regular half-hour visit could make a difference in helping someone feel wanted and remembered. If you have an elderly neighbour, be sure to check in on them once in a while in case they require assistance or even just a friendly chat.
Government, too, has a role to play. Many of the changes in society have been led by the state. Closing post offices and Garda stations have had have unintended consequences. The loss of rural shops, banks and pubs impoverishes local communities. The state must recognise that rural isolation is a problem, and providing a cohesive social environment is almost as important as providing good health care and a viable income.
A life with frequent human ordinary interaction has the potential to be a life rich in connection, engagement and belonging. This connecting bond can stave off depression and other illnesses. If someone asks if you would you want to be alone when you get older, the answer will probably be ‘no’.
Most of us fear being alone, and people of every generation have the opportunity to prevent the fears of older people becoming a reality. A cohesive, inclusive society is good for us all. An age-friendly society is friendly to all ages. And if altruism doesn’t make us act, perhaps a degree of self-interest will. If we begin taking steps now, we are more likely to have the society we want when we are older, benefitting older people today – and tomorrow. And this week, Positive Ageing Week, is a good place to start.
Anne Dempsey is Head of Communications with Third Age. A journalist, counsellor and trainer, she is the author of ‘The Retirement Handbook’, and has worked in the NGO sector for a number of years.
Senior Help Line, LoCall 1850 440 444, open every day of the year from 10am till 10pm.
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Changing response time targets will not save lives. Major investment is needed and the number of frontline ambulances across the country needs to triple at least to cover current service needs and plan for future increases. Closing local A&e only means longer journey times reducing the amount available for calls.
It’s that simple to fix!
They are a very decent bunch of lads but are let down down by a lot of logistical issues not of their own making. For instance the last time I went with a relative to a major Dublin hospital they were left waiting in A&E for nearly an hour because they couldnt get their trolly back or take an equivalent one from A&E. My 10 year old could come up with a better solution. These kind of basic mis management of resources must be common place.
While I have the utmost respect for the ambulance staff, those response times are a load of cobblers. My father had a stroke last November and we were waiting nearly 50 minutes for an ambulance to arrive. Bear in mind that he lives in Finglas and not down the country. After waiting 20 minutes we rang back to be told “nothing we can do, do you want us to send a fire brigade or something” when the ambulance finally arrived they said the had to come from James’ hosp as they were the only crew available. None at either Cappagh, Beaumont, Blanchardstown or the Mater hosp that could attend. The service is a shambles and it’s about time we had a dedicated national service not just using the Dublin Fire Brigade all the time.
Your right Robbie, although the ambulance service became the National Ambulance Service in 2005. It’s currently nationalising the control room, but it being nationalised seems to equated somewhere that we need less vehicles
It’s like most things in this country, big talk with tribunals and such and very little action. I guess I was referring to the Dublin area as I have a few friends in the fire brigade, and they are constantly being rotated on to the ambulance service. I don’t see why we are depriving the fire brigade of staff to supplement the ambulance service. Again I have no notion of how the rest of the country fares, but your right with the pointlessness of the national control room. I don’t see how someone in athlone (for argument sake) could judge the best dispatch location for an ambulance in counties hundreds if kilometres away
Robbie you may have friends in the fire brigade but you obviously havnt a clue what your talking about, go get some proper information and come back with it. For example, your friends arnt moved to work in the ambulance service as you suggest, they do that as a normal part of thier duty.
Robbie all DFB firefighters are also paramedics and we rotate on to our own DFB ambulances as part of our duties. We aren’t being ‘taken off’ fire trucks. It’s part of our job.
We do the bulk of the ambulance calls in Dublin and have for over 100 years. Our colleagues in the HSE/National ambulance service also respond to many calls in Dublin and are fully responsible for the rest of the country.
People, read the article, the facts are in the article. Not enough staff, vehicles and equipment. Simples.
And who pays for it rob, it not simples, ambulances being used as a taxi service at times, transporting people to clinics and things that it is not necessary to do so. People can say they are entitled to an ambulance in 25 min but there is a limited number of crews on duty and if all are on calls, u have to wait. There is not a limitless amount of money to throw at this, let’s not be naive
Ok Brendan, what you are saying is correct, however there has been a massive reduction in cover nationally, less crews actually on the road in “ambulances” not rrv’s which have to wait for an “ambulance” to actually move the patient, this is due to cutbacks of finances. The real facts are there arnt as many paramedic crews on the road and rrv’s are being used to prop up response times but the actual moving of patients to hospital is reduced and also the response times to getting to a patients side to give assistance is reduced because of the reduction of crews. Who pays for it? Us tax payers of course, who else, it needs to be restructured Brendan.
It agree rob, the system as it stands does not work, though I will probably be shot for saying so, Reilly has got some things right. People talk about universal care in holland, Sweden and Germany for example, but in truth, tax structure is so different and I doubt people want to pay more taxes. Maybe a situation like Switzerland where it is law that everybody has health insurance, and if you want a fright, go to comparis.ch to see what that costs, 2 adults and 2 kids, approx 16000chf, 13000 euro. That’s the price for a world class health service
As you might notice from my profile foto Brendan im a paramedic in the national service, I work the system every day, frustrating an all as it is, the problems are not from the paramedics on the ground, we do the very best we can for the public we serve, I dont do it for glory, I do it because I care, like every other medic on the road. These are my personal opinions and im not in any way speaking for the national ambulance service.
I understand rob, my father worked in the ambulance service for just shy of 40 years before retiring. I have had this talk many times with him, one night it got very heated where he asked ‘what would u do, leave people die on the streets’. I said that was exactly where Ireland was heading, no one wants to see it, but no one wants to pay to avoid it. My father told me lately I was right and believe me, it didn’t bring me any pleasure. I also do not have the answer but by my profile, I live in Switzerland and the health system is superb, unfortunately have had plenty of experience of it, but you pay for what u get. U and UR colleagues take care rob
Thanks Brendan. You too.
Spending fortunes on systems , top heavy management , staff cars and no Ambulances ! Fiddling with dispatch times etc etc bullying and intimidation of staff the problems go on and on !!!
I was in attendance with the McQuillan family today at this committee meeting As Wayne is a close friend of mine and it was sad to say the least, it took the HSE 8 weeks to apologies to the family over the targic and senseless lose of Wayne and to hear comments like collateral damage was very painful for them
Statistics are being quoted from Northern Ireland and Scotland and it makes for good reading.However it is being conveniently overlooked that in NHS Trusts they use private services to keep their response times on target.NHS and private crews work side by side without any difficulties.When the Trust achieves their targets the private services are dropped.Its a business decision and it works.Here in Ireland it’s a closed shop. NAS at all costs and have the ongoing saga of not enough resources available when the private sector have extra capacity and qualified crews able to respond.The public don’t care who’s name is on the vehicle once they get a timely response to their case.
This is not bash the NAS,it’s common sense.How long will procurement take to run a tender for vehicles and then training of new Paramedics?
Use what’s available until NAS management gets its house in order.
I for one would not care what type/colour/size or name is on an ambulance if I really needed one for a loved one. As long as the staff/training/equipment etc. is all current, professional and capable.
Simply not true joe, the Hse use hundreds of private ambulances every day and you know that as you work for the privates.. Nas bashing because you can’t get in is unfair..
Not true.I don’t work for a private service, I own it and it’s called Medilink.And HSE don’t use hundreds of private ambulances every day.Its not statistically possible as it would involve each private ambulance vehicle in the country doing a number of calls to the detriment of other work and we both know well that’s not happening.
I have evidence of HSE ambulances still being used for inter facility transfers and when challenged nursing staff say that there was no private available .Further questioning then revealed that only one company was contacted while the rest were ignored.Must be something to do with loyalty schemes!Thats one of many reasons why frontline ambulances cannot achieve their response times.
And FYI,we are doing quite well without HSE work.
So your telling me you and your company would do emergency work for free..? Your a private company, profit making organisation.. If your doing fine without the Hse why do you still do work for them.? Anyone who has a loved one in hospital reading this should ring you tomorrow and they won’t be long finding out how much you charge..! Medilnk do calls for free..!
I never used those words.Im not bashing the NAS.Im simply saying that in the areas most quoted,ie the Uk,the NHS doesn’t achieve their targets without outside assistance.If you doubt this then contact the press office of any NHS Trust and they will confirm it.Why should good old Ireland be any different.The NAS is under pressure.Should this be allowed to continue until it cracks?Use outside help until it’s fixed and then go paddle your own canoe.And MediLink does its share if free work for charities and you might note that we have contributed towards the NAS Pipe Band Race Night.Not bad for somebody who you think is bashing the NAS.
Hey Joe. Hows you, if I remember correctly being your first paramedic all those years ago you are a total gent and it was a pleasure to work for you.
The danger is you get a yellow van turning up with a first aider in a uniform. Would you care then?
This type of comment goes to show exactly how little people really know about private services in Ireland.Almost all private services have undergone rigorous international accreditation inspections and have passed.The rest are in the process.In our case this is in addition to HSE,VHI and PHECC inspections,all passed.The day of a first aider in a uniform went out at the same time as the “ambulance driver”.How many of us react badly to that term.
Hi Rob.Good to hear from you.Hope you’re keeping well
That wouldn’t happen because strict guidelines are published which lay out the minimum practitioner level necessary to attend emergency and non-emergency calls. Statutory and private ambulance services follow these guidelines. The days of the ‘ambulance driver/first aider’ are long gone.
Apart from the question, how would you make money, providing frontline support to the NAS, I think the comparison that NASRA made with similar populated jurisdictions, is because they showed clear representations of how much investment goes into providing Emergency Medical Services in comparison to Ireland.
The NHS EMS is dealing with 20 or 30 times the incidents that NAS/DFB attend so it makes sense to contract in support at that stage. We aren’t at that stage yet! NAS attended 1million cases last year nationally, something London Ambulance Service achieves alone, let alone the rest of the NHS trusts.
The Irish system is running on empty, we have less ambulances, 50% less staff in comparison to Scotland and we have difficult geographical issues.
We also now have hospitals calling in routine transfers as “emergencies ” so to licit a faster response. When they do this an Emergency Ambulance is mobilised instead of an ICV or private ambulance and so the cycle of abuse continues
So it’s a case of wait until Uriah EMS is as busy as the UK before bringing in help.Meanwhile people have to wait.
Kevin you know well how much one of your previous employers was making from HSE covering emergency shifts.It goes without saying that the work was not being undertaken just to keep staff busy.
Uriah should read Irish.Bloody iPhones .
Joe, I know it would have been cheaper to run the ambulance themselves
25 minutes is god if you live regionally. I had an experience where I had to give the ambulance directions to a house in the country, at night. The outcome was not good.
Why don’t we design a system where ambulances are also based regionally to service local areas to the nearest A&E? Just a thought…
Mary, if you buy new furniture you will most likely have to give directions to the delivery driver wont you, in fairness whats wrong with giving directions for the responding crew, the ambulance is already on the road and the crew are given your directions over the vehicle radio while they are moving towards your location, seems reasonable to me because if I was working in your region I probably havnt a clue who you are. Dont think you have a valid point there.
Secondly ambulances are based regionally and do take patients to the nearest a+e.
Yawn
I am aware that ambulances are been dispatched from bases to calls so that figures can say an ambulance has been dispatched for instance recently an ambulance based in Roscommon town at night time was dispatched to black sod in mayo for a call it was in Newport before it was stood down. another night from the same base an ambulance was dispatched to Bellmullet, now anyone knows that it is absolute nonsense dispatching an ambulance to calls that distance in order to say an ambulance was en route to the call. it would be alright if we were talking motorway conditions but we are not. another a Boyle ambulance was sent to kilitmagh because the castle bar ambulance would be another 15 minutes before been free to respond. this is the sort of gerrymandering of response times that is ongoing. sending ambulances half way across the country to say their is one responding is crazy.. it would be interesting to see these sort of dispatches. it would give a more accurate picture. and remember ber on these nights Roscommon was left with no ambulance and no A& E.
Just watch RTE Prime Time.
Get rid of Martin Dunne and his useless team of managers who take so many quick response emergency vehicles out of service for their own use at our expense for up to two weeks at a time for their own use. Poor dumb Martin sees nothing wrong with that lol.
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