LOOKING AFTER SOMEONE ELSE
The most common, and most important type of care is self care, but the second most important type of care is not that provided by the NHS or social services but the care provided by family and friends. People who are 60 and beyond also play a centrally important role in running organisations without pay - voluntary work, without which no society could survive. Furthermore people in their 60s and even in their 70s may be supporting an elderly parent, or two, as well as supporting children and grand children. As is emphasised in the part of the Optimal Ageing Programme focused on volunteering people in their 60s and beyond have great assets, not financial assets but skills and insights that they have developed from their experience.
Supporting means supporting people to do things for themselves even though it would be quicker and less stressful just to do it for them. No one likes to see someone struggle to do something but another way to think about struggling is to think of young people training. They are struggling but they are doing so to get fitter and as is emphasised throughout the knowledge provided the need to maintain and indeed improve fitness and ability becomes more important the longer we live because the effects of the ageing process are to make loss of fitness occur even more quickly if a person is inactive. There is always the worry about risk of course, for example of the person scalding themselves or falling but you need to hold your nerve because risk is increased by inactivity much more than by activity and a major report produced by a number of leading health organisations had the simple title and final sentence - Benefits Outweigh Risks
The most common, and most important type of care is self care, but the second most important type of care is not that provided by the NHS or social services but the care provided by family and friends. People who are 60 and beyond also play a centrally important role in running organisations without pay - voluntary work, without which no society could survive. Furthermore people in their 60s and even in their 70s may be supporting an elderly parent, or two, as well as supporting children and grand children. As is emphasised in the part of the Optimal Ageing Programme focused on volunteering people in their 60s and beyond have great assets, not financial assets but skills and insights that they have developed from their experience.
Supporting means supporting people to do things for themselves even though it would be quicker and less stressful just to do it for them. No one likes to see someone struggle to do something but another way to think about struggling is to think of young people training. They are struggling but they are doing so to get fitter and as is emphasised throughout the knowledge provided the need to maintain and indeed improve fitness and ability becomes more important the longer we live because the effects of the ageing process are to make loss of fitness occur even more quickly if a person is inactive. There is always the worry about risk of course, for example of the person scalding themselves or falling but you need to hold your nerve because risk is increased by inactivity much more than by activity and a major report produced by a number of leading health organisations had the simple title and final sentence - Benefits Outweigh Risks