A Senior Probation Officer in Region Ten wants to make the welfare of the elderly a social problem.
Speaking at the second conference of the Women of Mission International (WOMI) in Linden on 23rd July, Reabena Marshall defined a social problem as one in which a significant number of people in a community acknowledge that a public issue is a social problem.
“Let us make the elderly welfare a social problem,” she said.
Marshall, who is also a member of WOMI, said there is talk about domestic violence, the rights of children, the rights of women but not much is spoken about the rights and protection of the elderly. She imploringly told her colleagues that the elderly are valuable resources that are not adequately tapped and do not get enough attention.
“We don’t realize that the elderly are being abused primarily because, we don’t understand them. So, we have to now put ourselves in place to learn about them – learn their needs. We have to do this in a scientific way. No longer should the welfare of the elderly be left to senior members of the family. It has to be done by all members of the family (and) all community persons.
“We are dealing with people, who know, who they are … what they want and they are very demanding in how they want to be treated and if we can’t treat them the way they want to be treated they put up barriers. That’s when they say: I don’t want you; I don’t want this and all of that. We have to understand that we have to put ourselves in a position to pay attention – listen to them”, she urged.
Stressing that she is from the Ministry of Social Protection, which is calling on citizens to join in paying special attention to protecting the elderly – a vulnerable group – Marshall told the WOMI conference: “If we are, indeed, women and community persons, who are interested in development, we will know that it is our moral responsibility to take care adequately of our elderly.”
