Belizeans Asked to be More Understanding of Our Seniors

Bernard Adolphus

How does one help a senior citizen, who is used to being independent, get used to having others do things with and for them? Volunteer chairman of the Board of the Sister Cecilia Home for the Elderly, Bernard Adolphus, says it is all about having understanding – on both sides:

Bernard Adolphus, Board Chair, Sister Cecilia Home for the Elderly

“Now everything is training, and you have to – I know we have some people, some senior citizens are very independent: don’t want you to touch this, don’t want you to touch that, because they are set in their ways. But sometimes those same stereotyped fashion are [a] detriment to them, so you have to subtly – because they have – subtly talk to them, without scaring them, because some of them raise their voices, but you have to be cool and calm. I take it from my own family, my own mother; she was giving – up to the time of her death, she want the refridge to be cleaned a kind of way, she want the dishes washed a kind of way, she wanted the chairs put a kind of way and if you move them one side…so you have to understand and tell her exactly how it should be done for her own sake. Simple process…Bathroom process, bathing process, all these things are an independent issue that they have been using, all the years and all of a sudden now, they are depending on a caregiver to do A,B,C and D, and this you have to understand. We all have to understand, because one day you and I may have to go through it, so if you understand it now, you can help and strengthen others later.”