Check on Your Aging Relatives and Neighbors Who Live Alone

Our aging society is living longer and longer and there are many elderly people who live alone.  Most of these seniors live alone because that’s how they prefer to live.  Some live alone because they have no relatives or friends with whom they can live; or they can’t afford an assisted living facility.

There are elderly people who need help with simple everyday tasks:

• cooking meals
• picking up medicine from the pharmacy
• grocery shopping
• transportation to the doctor’s office
• a ride to church
• help with household chores

If you know or live near an elderly person who lives alone, stop by at least once a week to check on them.  Give them a call several times a week.  Church groups can put together a team of people – a care ministry of sorts – to check on their elderly members on a regular basis.  Many seniors forget to refill their prescriptions, some have no way to get to the pharmacy and some don’t have the money for the co-pay.  Just checking on them once a week to see what they need would be a big help.

Many elderly people are really struggling right now because senior services are being cut.  Meals On Wheels have cut back, food stamp allocations for seniors have been cut and Section 8 Housing supplements have been slashed.

Someone must look out for our elders, it may as well be us.

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