The Unfathomable Treatment We Subject the Elderly to

Further to my article in Demographic Discursive at the weekend, a fellow campaigner with Sheltered Housing UK forwarded this news report to me.

The article can be found here

Reported on the front page of the Torbay Herald Express yesterday:

"Police were called to a Sheltered Housing unit in the Cecil Road area of Paignton after a 79-year old was found dead by his carer at 9:20AM.

Undertakers could not remove the body, because a disabled buggy was blocking the doorway.

When police officers went to ask the neighbour if he could move the buggy, they found that he was also dead.

It was believed that younger man may have been dead for a couple of days.

The reporter, Paul James, does not mention a word about whether or not the Sheltered Housing scheme had warden coverage, but if this is how often people were checked, it seems safe to assume that it did not. Can you imagine how the other residents of that building must be feeling? THIS is Sheltered Housing?"

I cannot even begin to express my dismay.

I may have only been campaigning for six months with SHUK, but this is why I continue to do so.

In 2012 we will have more people over 50 than under.

One quarter of those people reside in Sheltered Housing.

And our government has allowed wardens to be removed and the unthinkable happen.

Anne (Secretary of SHUK) stated:

"How many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
How many deaths will it take 'til he knows
That too many people have died?"

I will be joining the protest with the UK Pensioners Strategy Group and Sheltered Housing UK on Monday 22nd March to protest and demand the government brings back wardens in Sheltered Housing.

Join me if you can.