Abstract
The problems faced by elderly people which are discussed in this chapter have social as well as medical connotations. They include such handicaps as incontinence, alcoholism, isolation, loneliness, hypothermia and the new social disease of mugging. They are not so much age-related as age-enhanced because although they are found in all age groups and in all social classes they have a more profound effect on the elderly. These conditions tend also to be related to each other in that an isolated, lonely person may take to the bottle as a means of oblivion, and this in turn can lead to falls and hypothermia, or to increased incontinence.
To be old and helpless is unfortunate. To be old, helpless and alone is heartbreaking
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References
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Useful Addresses
Incontinence Advisory Service, Disabled Living Foundation, 346 High Street, Kensington, London.
Kanga Hospital Products Ltd, PO Box 39, Bentinck Street, Bolton (Kanga pants).
Martin Creasey Ltd, 89 Clumber Street, Hull (Posey male incontinence sheath and holder).
Nicholas Laboratories Ltd, 225 Bath Road, Slough (Kylie sheets).
Smith and Nephew Medical Ltd, Woodlands Road, Birmingham (Polyweb).
William Freeman and Co. Ltd, Suba-Seal Works, Staincross, Barnsley, Yorkshire (Suba-Seal, Feminal, St Peter’s Boat).
Copyright information
© 1982 Pat Brown
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Brown, P. (1982). Some Special Problems of Later Life. In: The Other Side of Growing Older. The ‘New Approaches to Care’ Series. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17026-5_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17026-5_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-32314-4
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