Care of the elderly

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32798, 24 December 1971, Page 11

Care of the elderly

While the service organisations concerned with the welfare of youth in Christchurch are both numerous and diverse, those dealing with the care of the elderly seem to have achieved less diversity and more co-ordin-ation, mainly because of the unifying influence of the Aged People’s Welfare Council. . > In addition, there is a National Old People’s Welfare Council, which was recently established with the purpose of seeing that the interests of the elderly were watched, especially with the formation of the proposed Department of Welfare next year.

The Aged People’s Welfare Council is a fully co-ordinat-ing body in Christchurch which caters for the needs of all the elderly in Christchurch, whether they are in recognised rest homes or living alone or with relatives. The social activities of the

elderly are organised by the Senior Citizens’ Association, which holds regular weekly meetings for all old age pensioners and generally aims at making their burden—whether is is poverty, loneliness, immobility or frailty—easier to bear: There are numerous rest homes for the aged in Christchurch which are run by denominational social service organisations, and private individuals; there are also a number of unlicensed rest homes caring for five or fewer residents, which have caused some concern recently as I to their standards .of health, fire safety and general safety. Although there is generally regarded to be a shortage of accommodation for the elderly in Christchurch, an increasing number of large, well-run licensed and small unlicensed rest homes are being built or converted from other types of accommodation all the time.