“Two Serious Problems”

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31772, 31 August 1968, Page 40

“Two Serious Problems”

(N.Z. Press Association)

DUNEDIN, Aug. 30. Two serious problems in the community are revealed by figures released by the statistics department at the Dunedin Hospital—self-inflicted poisoning, and falls among elderly people.

“The self-inflicted overdose of drugs is becoming a serious problem in our society,

and has accounted for almost 300 admissions to the Dunedin Hospital since 1963,” a report says.

There had been a marked increase in the number of admissions in the last two years. This year there had already been 52 cases. Of these, 75 per cent had been women and girls. The most common age-group was between 20 and 39, mostly housewives, but the number of suicide attempts by teenagers had also increased in recent years. “With the more widespread

use of drugs for medicinal and i psychiatric treatment, greater responsibility is placed on the general public to use these drugs strictly as prescribed,” says the report. Injuries from Falls

So far this year, 91 persons over the age of 60 have been admitted to the Dunedin Hospital as a result of falls, the most common type of injury being a broken thigh-bone or hip. Thirty-eight of the patients were aged more than 80, three-quarters of them women, the report says. “Non-slip mats in the bathroom and bath, a rail beside the bath and toilet, and a chain on the bath plug to minimise leaning, would pre. vent many common accidents in the bathroom,” it says. Long halls with slippery or ruckled matting were a further hazard. In wet or icy weather, old people often slipped on verandas, steps, or paths when bringing in a newspaper and milk bottle, or hanging out washing. A few rails in the garden would therefore also be helpful, especially for those living alone, says the report.