Helping Aged –Heavenly help

Help  the elderly people

There are lots of ways you can do your bit to help lonely or socially isolated elderly people in your community. The person you're helping will reap health benefits, and you'll find you will as well.

                             
Start a conversation

A good start is simply to stop and talk to an elderly neighbor if you pass them on the street.

Offer practical help

Ask them if they need any help with tasks such as shopping, posting letters, picking up prescriptions and medicines or dog-walking.

Share your time

Your contribution could be as simple as a weekly telephone call to an isolated older person, or extend to regular home visits for a chat and to help with shopping and so on, driving an elderly person to a social event, or even hosting coffee mornings for groups of elderly people.

Help with household tasks

Getting older can make it hard to tackle even simple jobs around the house and older people often really appreciate any offer of help with basic chores such as taking out the rubbish, changing light bulbs, fastening sash windows, clearing snow off the path, putting up pictures and so on.

Share a meal

Try to provide the meal in a container that you don't need back - it's hard work for both of you to keep track of serving bowls.

Watch for signs of winter illness

Look out for signs of serious illness, such as drowsiness, slurred speech and the person not complaining of feeling cold even in a bitterly cold room.