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admitted at once, and in spite of entreaties I had to be content with a promise
of early admission from a waiting list. After three days, with constant urging,
a bed became vacant; she was admitted and died soon after admission.
Second Childhood.
The description " second childhood" is very apt. The case I have
described is typical of a large number we are called upon to deal with. Should
anything happen which restricts the domestic activities of elderly people
living alone, the subsequent degeneration is rapid. They truly revert to the
baby stage, become doubly incontinent, irresponsible in behaviour, difficult to
control and exceedingly tiresome.
We should try to prevent or at least to delay the onset of this degenerative
stage for as long as possible. A great deal is being done to keep many old
people well by providing home helps for a few hours either every day or three
or four days a week. It is difficult to ensure a regular service for them as the
home helps often have to be withdrawn for more urgent cases of acute sickness
or confinement. It is pitiful to see the deterioration in mental and physical
condition when a home help has had to be withdrawn or for some other reason
is unable to attend. The old people get worried as to whether they should
light a fire laid for them, because the next day may be colder and the home
help not visiting. Such domestic necessities as cooking a meal, doing the
floor, seeing to the shopping, drawing the pension or ordering the coal are
often not done. We sometimes find an old person ill, without a fire, because of
inability to get out to order coal. The amount ordered is small because money
is short and unless the need is pointed out to the coal company, often no
coal is delivered even if ordered. These old people need the active assistance
of voluntary organisations who could help them by regular visits, provision
of clubs, and a daily meals service. The old people cannot do heavy laundering
and need some sort of laundry service to assist them. We have no reliable
information about all the old people who live alone. The voluntary organisations
could assist by supplying information and by frequent visiting.
With regular care and attention, most elderly sick patients regain vitality.
Those quite seriously ill often take on a new lease of life and once again
become self-supporting.
In the national interest we should encourage all old people to go on working
as long as possible. As a rule, a busy life is best even in old age. Adjustment
of the amount of work, the speed, and the wages need to be worked out; the
occupations need to be adjusted within the physical powers of the men.
Compulsory Removal.
Occasionally it is necessary for the Council to apply to the Court for an
Order to remove an old person compulsorily to a place of care and safety
when the degree of degeneration in mental and physical powers has become
so severe as to produce great distress to the invalid and often to other occupants
of the house. As a rule, the case is one in which the old person occupies a room
independently. In 1949 we had to deal in this way with an elderly woman
aged 82 years who occupied a small ground floor front room in a small terrace
house. The room was filthy with accumulated dirt, and was heavily bug
infested. The woman was in a shabby bed covered with worn-out bedclothes
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