Ed,
May I be so presumptuous as to use your well-read letters column to speak on behalf of many older folk in the Clarence area and highlight some of the many challenges currently facing them.
Since you kindly published my previous correspondence on the exaggerated costs of Government aged care home packages and the ballooning cost of household electric power, I have received many personal representations from pensioners, self-supporting senior citizens and members of the former Yamba, Angourie, Wooloweyah Community Association, of which I was the secretary.
Most of the people who have contacted me have described how the recent onset of higher prices through inflation and the new day-to-day pressures of living and running a home are seriously affecting their health and wellbeing, let alone their dwindling bank balances and other assets.
They all point to the fast-rising costs of electric power, of personal and household care provided by non-profit making community organisations and the impact of unbelievably high home insurance policies.
In addition, Artificial Intelligence-backed telephone answering machines used by big business and government departments are reportedly making their lives a misery together with the spectre of a possible ‘bank card only’ cashless society.
Our elderly and infirm are also having considerable difficulties with scam phone and IT calls, and the increasing need to remember, provide and navigate their way through increasing demands for computer web passwords and other previously irrelevant data.
Some of the seniors who have contacted me are also experiencing considerable difficulty in finding reliable tradesmen to undertake maintenance work on their homes and properties.
The writer of this letter can vouch for the widespread nature of this particular difficulty as he has been waiting for two years to find a bricklayer prepared to re-build a front wall. Those tradesmen who have been contacted for this purpose either do not turn up for an initial investigation or do not return calls or emails to their own advertised websites.
My various older informants have also told me how their often-restricted household and personal budgets are currently being affected by the higher prices of many groceries, fuels and pharmaceutical essentials.
They claim that the never-ending pressures on their daily lives since the pandemic are causing them psychological pressures at a time when they should be enjoying retirement in their homes. These people also point to the reported 40 per cent increase this year alone in the number of Australians seeking mental health assistance.
Yet another stumbling block facing elderly retirees is the growing pressure from younger family members for gifts of money from their life-long savings or for them to return home to live in the face of rising rents.
One of my respondents also pointed to the growing incidence of sons and daughters urging their parents to leave their house for accommodation in a variety of aged care institutions long before they are actually ready to move.
While thanking all my informants for their unsolicited personal experiences and information, I would also ask that the business world and officialdom give consideration to how they interact with our Clarence Valley elderly.
Oscar Tamsen, Yamba