A fine balance: Encouraging seniors' sense of purpose while keeping them safe


Maintain a sense of purpose by sticking to their everyday routines and engaging in activities and hobbies they enjoy. Photo: Pixabay

When Carol Teoh read about three cases of senior citizens who had gone missing in just one week recently, she got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She called her 78-year-old mother and told her that she was not to drive out on her own, especially to places that are far from her home in Kelana Jaya, Petaling Jaya.

"My mother sometimes likes to drive to the nurseries in Sungai Buloh or to visit her sisters in Ampang. I suddenly had nightmares about her getting disoriented and lost and not having her phone with her because, believe me, that happens way too often. It's safe if my siblings or I take her wherever she wants to go, I think," says Teoh, a pysiotherapist, who lives with her family just a few doors away from her mother, Kate.

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seniors , elderly , older people , family , caregivers

   

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