For an ageing person, asking for help should not mean giving up self-control. Quite the opposite, according to Gerard Mansour.
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The commissioner for senior Victorians visited Bendigo on Tuesday to meet with residents and said those who sought assistance could find supports needed to remain independent into old age.
“There's a point when you're getting a bit older and you start to realise you might need some assistance and that's pretty confronting for a lot of people, because they tend to look at it through the eyes of losing their dignity and control,” Mr Mansour said.
“But calling for support isn’t a loss.”
In fact, Mr Mansour believed the earlier people began planning for old age, the better they were prepared for it.
Maintaining dignity into the twilight of one’s life was among the topics discussed in yesterday’s town hall meeting.
Similar events held recently in regional towns Colac, Daylesford, Hamilton and Bright suggested areas outside of the city were becoming beacons for retiring residents, Mr Mansour said.
He said Bendigo was keeping up with demand from its ageing people, with a “positive mix” of services on offer.
“They’re choosing places like Bendigo because of its V/Line, health services, home support services and all the sporting clubs,” he said.
Regional communities were often closer-knit than those in metropolises, Mr Mansour said, meaning the isolation that often plagued ageing people could be less pronounced. But many who moved there left behind their families and traditional support structures, so needed to make new networks.
Mr Mansour last year released the report, Ageing is everyone's business, which found relocation, as well as the the loss of a partner or driver’s license, could result in loneliness for elderly people.
The report recommended government policies, improved transport options and ‘better neighbours’ schemes to limit the isolation they experienced.
But there were also were positives to ageing, Mr Mansour said, with the seniors he met yesterday reporting they had more time to indulge in the hobbies or pursue volunteer work, often with a social justice bent.
“There's this sort of resilience and this bounce [about them] as well,” he said.