THE elderly are often forgotten during natural disasters, says Pearce Home board of Trustees chairperson, Hassan Khan
He told a Q&A session after the recent soft launch of the Fiji Council of Social Services’ (FCOSS) Community Feedback Mechanism in Suva that most times elderly persons were left out, “not intentionally, but because they are old”.
“It is also the effect of ageism, the discrimination based on age,” said Mr Khan, adding that families ought to train one within the household to care for their elderly members.
“At least one person in the family should be a trained caregiver for the family, not for going overseas, but because the families are losing younger people to migration, both internally and externally. Most of the people in Nasinu are from somewhere else, Labasa or Savusavu. They settle there perhaps, this platform could also look into that kind of situation developing because of the aging population and migration.”
Mr Khan also questioned the of use of schools as evacuation centres.
“Schools were built for children and the facilities are for the children,” Mr Khan said, adding evacuation centres could be used by the disabled and elderly.
“We’re supposed to be, or we claim to be, community-based but do we have a framework, a report to bring all these things in various meetings.
“It’s not about fighting the Government, it’s about looking after ourselves because if we don’t look after ourselves, nobody’s going to look after us. Everything is very costly.”
