Age Concern: work vital for older people

Age Concern New Zealand Media Release

8 October 2009

“Older New Zealanders need adequate income, access to health care including dental care, safety and an over-arching need for respect.”

These are the first findings from a major conference on ageing held in Wellington this week.

“We’ve reached the half-way point of our conference, and participants tell me we’re doing well. The consensus is that Age Concern New Zealand’s priorities for older people are the right ones,” national president Liz Baxendine says.

“Conference speakers have unanimously emphasised the vital importance for older people of adequate income, health care access, safety, good social relationships and overcoming chronic loneliness, and an overarching need for respect for seniors.

“Age Concern has practical, health and welfare services that are helping to achieve these aims. We’re on the right track and we’re keen to do more.”

Over 400 Conference delegates are attending Living in an Ageing Society - Shaping Tomorrow Today, the joint Age Concern New Zealand and New Zealand Association of Gerontology conference in Wellington this week.

Participants are looking at ways the rapidly increasing proportion of older New Zealanders will ‘shape tomorrow’.

Researchers told delegates that around two thousand New Zealanders a month will soon be joining the 65-plus group.

“This is an opportunity, not a problem,” Sheffield University’s Professor Alan Walker told the conference.

“However, research papers presented have reinforced our several of the key concerns we have about older people’s future,” Liz Baxendine says.

Age Concern New Zealand elder abuse and neglect professional adviser Jayne McKendry told a seminar audience that Age Concern elder abuse and neglect prevention teams respond, on average, to at least two cases each day but most abuse continued to go unreported. Age Concern advisers took seminar participants though two complex cases of abuse and neglect.

Age Concern’s oral health panel of health workers and specialists say that teeth are the neglected health issue for older people, which can damage their general health and welfare.

Seniors, especially resthome residents, face big problems with their teeth and it’s tough getting dental care for them.

“Oral health and general good health aren’t seen as related” panellists concluded.

For example a retired GP told the conference he had only received 1 hours’ training on dental health in his whole medical training.

Answering seniors’ need for new types of housing, Age Concern Auckland launched their plan for New Zealand’s first intergenerational housing project. The concept, popular in Europe, would offer seniors, young people and family groups an opportunity to live in mutually supportive housing. Residents of all ages would build an intergenerational community offering support, shared public areas, and shared gardens while retaining the privacy and home ownership rights they want.

Tomorrow, Age Concern advisers will discuss the problem of chronic loneliness and ways to overcome it.
ENDS

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