An organization devoted to the welfare of the elderly yesterday acknowledged the government's efforts to assist in taking care of elderly people who live alone.
"In the past few years there has been an increase in the home services provided by the government to elderly people who live alone, such as housekeeping and meal deliveries," said Wu Yu-chin (
The Ministry of Interior recently released statistics on elderly people who were living alone last year. The figures showed a significant increase over the previous year in the number of service personnel attending to the needs of this population.
Last year, the number of personnel serving the elderly who live alone was about 3.5 million, which was a 67.4-percent increase from that of 2002.
At the end of last year, the number of elderly people living alone was 48,637, accounting for 2.33 percent of the total elderly population.
"In 1998, there were a number of cases in which the elderly who lived alone were bitten by dogs. Somehow, these cases drew the public's as well as the government's attention and services tending to this group of elderly people started to increase things such as regular home visits and telephone calls," Wu said.
Wu said that when the service program began, many elderly people felt harassed.
"At first, these home visits and telephone calls, conducted by the police and social welfare groups, were so frequent that some elderly people found them quite annoying."
The greatest fear among elderly people living alone, Wu said, is lack of access to emergency services.
"As long as these individuals' health is good enough that they can take care of themselves, there is not much to worry about, except in cases of emergency, when help becomes out of reach for some elderly," Wu said.
To address that problem, emergency rescue telephone hookups can be installed in the homes of elderly people who live alone.
Such installations provide direct links to either a public welfare organization appointed by the government or to a local fire station.
"Currently, this sort of installation is only free of charge for families with medium or low incomes. How it works is that the phone lines are linked directly to a rescue center. In most areas, these rescue centers are welfare organizations; however, in Taipei and Keelung, the phone lines are linked to fire stations," Wu said.
For more wealthy families, the installations can be obtained for a monthly service fee of NT$1,350, Wu said.
Nursing homes, Wu said, were more appropriate for elderly people who need around-the-clock care.
"However, the tradition of filial piety prevents many people from sending their parents to elderly homes, because it might seem like they do not care about their parents. As a result, the occupancy rate of nursing homes is only about 70 percent," Wu said.
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