THE LONELY OLD

Evening Star, Issue 25776, 26 April 1946, Page 11

THE LONELY OLD

MEAL PROVISION DIFFICULT AUCKLAND'S " ADAPTION " PLAN (P.A.) AUCKLAND, April 25. Members of the St. John Ambulance Brigade and the brigade’s nursing division are to be asked to “ adopt ” old people at present living alone in Auckland, stated the secretary-mana-ger of the Ambulance Association, Mr S. E. Langstone, to-day. An article published in the ‘ New Zealand Herald ’ on Wednesday drew attention to the pitiable plight of many of these old people, and the sex'ious problem with which they are faced in the provision of. meals. Owing to the acute staff shortage at Cornwall Hospital, aged chronic invalids are unable to gain admission, and many of them, living alone in apartment houses, have been unable to secure necessary care and attention, Mr Langstone said he had had a conference with the commissioner of

the St. John Ambulance Association, Mr D. F. McKay, as a result of which it was decided to invite members of the brigade and nursing divisions to. " adopt." old people in need of care. Working in their spare time, these members would visit the aged and possibly assist with the provision of a hot meal once or twice a week. Where further help was needed, said Mr Langstone, members would apply to the St. John headquarters for aid in the supply of wood, coal, or blankets, and if medical attention were considered necessary the association's district nurses would be ready to attend. Woilking long and arduous hours, district nurses are daily visiting many aged and infirm people who are living under deplorable conditions, but there must be many others of whom they do not hear (it was state at the conferonce). Most of those they do visit are entirely dependent on their aid for cooking and washing. The city coroner, Mr A. Addison, confirmed the fact that old people are dying unknown to other tenants in back-street apartment houses. From time to time, he said, he was called upon to hold inquests into the % deaths of old people whose bodies were often found in bed in advanced stages of decomposition. One old lady had been dead at least a week, and on her gas ring, which was still alight, were the charred remnants of a piece of bread, where she had apparently been trying to make heri self a piece of toast shortly before death. It was not possible to say, however, w-hether starvation actually played any part in the deaths of these aged invalids.