Tassie tops the lonely lives plight
HELEN KEMPTON
September 19, 2008 12:00am
THE proportion of people living alone in Tasmania is higher than anywhere else in Australia, and Anglicare says rekindling a sense of community is the only way to stop people dying alone and unnoticed in their homes.
More than 31 per cent of Tasmania's 205,000 households are occupied by just one person.
Around the nation, two million people live alone and the Australian Bureau of Statistics predicts that by 2026 more than 3.6 million people will be living that way. About 900,000 will be over 75.
Some will die alone. In some cases no one living around them will notice and their body will not be found for some time after their death.
In NSW, the State Coroner took control of 283 decomposed or decomposing bodies in 2007. Statistics on the number of Tasmanians found dead in their homes last year will be available next week.
Anglicare chief executive Chris Jones said many of the disabled or ageing clients on the charity's books lived very isolated lives.
"We might be the only contact they receive from one week to the next," Mr Jones said.
"We might officially be there to help with the cleaning but it is about so much more than that."
Mr Jones said Anglicare was concerned about the growing number of people who were not able to engage in the community.
"We need to create good local solutions and Tasmania is well-placed to do that," he said.
"The type of community which has disappeared from some other places in Australia can still be found here and we need to be deliberate about hanging on to it."
University of Tasmania demographer Natalie Jackson said elderly people living alone were the parents of the baby boomers.
"You have to ask who will be there to keep an eye on the growing number of people who have had no children," Ms Jackson said.
State and territory governments are working on a national protocol for community care to try to reduce the number of frail, elderly people living alone and the delay between their death and their body being discovered.
Federal Minister for Ageing Justine Elliot said the draft protocols would be ready for further discussion at the next meeting of the Ministerial Conference on Ageing, scheduled for November.
"We recognise social inclusion is a major challenge facing Australia as our nation ages," she said.
"Our older Australians often rely on informal support networks. We have to look at innovative ways to reduce social isolation. That is why we have provided grants to a number of mission-based organisations to reduce that isolation."
Article from:  |
微信扫一扫
提升卡
置顶卡
变色卡
抢沙发
