Many older people in Mayo are isolated, lonely, and fearful about their future, according to a new report from a national listening service.
Senior Help Line, which offers older people an emphatetic ear on a range of issues, said it received more than 2,200 calls from Mayo last year.
The organisation said loneliness was one of the main reasons callers are contacting the helpline, and emigration appears to be having a particularly harsh impact on many older people as their sons, daugthers, and grandchildren leave the country.
Worries about the cost of living, cuts to services, elder abuse, and feelings of suicide were all reported from callers.
“We are seeing an increase in demand for our services and, worryingly, we are receiving twice as many calls as we can answer,” said Senior Help Line CEO Aine Brady.
“We urge any older person who is worried about issues concerning health, family, loneliness, emigration, or any other matter to call us on 1850 440 444 We will do our best to help them find a voice and share their problem or to break the cycle of loneliness.”
Deirdre Waldron is the manager of Castlebar Social Services, which provides a number of services to older people in the county, including Meals and Wheels, laundry, and bus services.
She said lonliness is sadly an everyday reality for many seniors in both rural and urban areas.
“People don’t call on older people the way they used to, they don’t know their neighbours, particularly in towns,” she said.
“It’s quite sad that for some older people, the only person they will see all day is the postman.”
Castlebar Social Services runs a ‘befriending’ phone service where three mornings each week, a team of volunteers make phonecalls to older people in the community who have signed up for the service.
Ms Waldron urged anyone who would like to get more information about their services to contact the centre on (094 ) 9021378.
Independent councillor Michael Kilcoyne cited austerity policies as having a particularly negative effect on older people.
He listed the closure of services in rural communities, cuts to the telephone allowance, unemployment causing emigration and poor public transport in rural areas as all contributing towards the problem of lonliness faced by some older people.
“There is no doubt there is very severe isolation of older people and austerity policies are in no way helping the elderly. If anything, they are anti-elderly,” he said.
