by Flavia Caretta

An unpleasant phenomenon that is increasingly spreading is the lack of respect for older people. The best way to prevent abuse and mistreatment is most likely to invest in culture, on the topic of the value that we attribute to people in general, even at a social level.

I think we need to start again from the idea that today the elderly still have a high social "value". Society and institutions increasingly focus their attention on other ages of life, and this is commendable. However, the elderly should once again be universally considered an essential social component. From this platform of shared values, social welfare policies and public investments can then arise.

Specific training aimed at healthcare workers is necessary. They are the first ones who should be a stimulus to the rest of the population, at the forefront in this work of raising awareness and in this denunciation, because sometimes the elderly person himself hesitates to point out the mistreatment he suffers, fearing possible retaliation from the family member, of the caregiver, of the operator himself. Society as a whole should be made aware of this issue, in the awareness that each of us can offer decisive help. Even the neighbor, just to start with a concrete example, could contribute to solving the problem. In this panorama of widespread distress, we cannot afford to neglect the dying elderly in the first place.

Much depends on the environment in which they spend the last part of their lives. If this occurs in a residential facility, operators must be trained to ensure they are able to guarantee a high level of quality of care. If this happens in the family, the elderly person who is passing away would need not to be left alone, to have a network of human, social and professional contacts around him that can range from simple neighbors to territorial services operating in the area.

In this delicate phase, the hospital or social care facility must carefully guide and assist its operators, so as to guarantee moral support to the family and the elderly, and to prevent abuse and abandonment. It is for this reason that the technical-professional preparation of operators must constantly be accompanied by careful ethical, deontological and psychological training. If a worker, in his personal life, is unable to accept the idea of ​​ageing, illness and death, it is very likely that he will find himself experiencing difficulties in being close to the dying elderly person in a serene and respectful way. For this and other reasons, training courses in discontinuity with the past, with a highly innovative scope, appear increasingly necessary today. Where, however, innovation does not lie in the introduction of new technological discoveries, but rather in the rediscovery of the importance of the elderly and more generally of respect for the person, in his corporal, psychological and spiritual dimensions.