Grandparents’ guide to staying safe in self-isolation

Australia’s ageing population have seen empty supermarket shelves, battered finances and real risks to their health if they walk outside their front door. Here are some simple ways they can get help.

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As the country beds down for months of social isolation, there are growing fears about the long-term impact this will have on the elderly.

Health and welfare experts are now grappling with the implications of a prolonged lockdown, arguing that humans are hardwired to seek companionship and social connection but COVID-19 has forced a new reality grounded in social distancing and isolation.

This has hit the aged community especially hard.

Those living independently are faced with empty supermarket shelves, battered finances and real risks to their health if they walk outside their front door.

For those in aged care, there are bans on any visitors, including family members. Even parcels or flowers are not longer allowed because of fear of contamination.

Clinical psychologists say that while the focus now is on everyone’s immediate health and welfare, the country needs to start preparing for the long term implications of forced isolation.

Swinburne University’s Dr Michelle Lim said no studies had been done into what happens when an entire population is locked down for a long period of time.

“We’ve never had such a restriction on older adults’ social lives,” Dr Lim said.

“The impact of prolonged social isolation will take a toll.

“Older adults may experience higher levels of loneliness and it is unclear how this impacts on both their physical and mental health in the long term.

“Obviously we do not want them to have complications for their physical health but at the same time there is a silent suffering that goes along with it and the ramifications at the end of this is that prolonged isolation may lead to loneliness.”

Older people without children or family relied on social contact in the community, she said.

This had now been taken away from them suddenly and for the foreseeable future.

“That’s where a lot of older people do get that interaction - whether it’s from church or the community, their local pharmacist or the local cafe where they might have a coffee,” she said.

“They don’t have that now so they are incredibly vulnerable.

“And that’s where a lot of the worries are in terms of how they’ll cope in these times.”

The global implications have prompted a worldwide study, led by Dr Lim, which will track the impact of COVID-19 on relationships, health and psychiatric wellbeing.

There are roughly four million Australians over the age of 65, making up about 15 per cent of the population.

Karn Nelson, from aged care group Whiddon, said the focus should not just be on clinical health but on emotional wellbeing and support.

Whiddon runs 23 aged care homes in NSW and Queensland, housing almost 2000 people over the age of 80.

“This is a tough time for everyone, particularly for the residents, for these people who have very strong family connections and sometimes you’ll have a resident whose family member might come in every day,” she said.

“So for family members to not come in, that’s a huge emotional wrench for the resident and for the family member.

“There are a lot of families who are looking for some emotional support and we are trying to think about how we can provide that support because of their concern and worry and anxiety and grief.

“They’re worried that their loved one might die and they might not get to see them.”

Dr Lim said as this social distancing becomes more prolonged, people will start to feel the impact of isolation and loneliness.

She said it was up to the community to become a support network.

“I think it’s crucial that even if we don’t have an older relative, if we have an older person we know who is living in our neighbourhood, to be able to say hi and check if they need anything even if you don’t know them,” she said.

“Those things actually mean a lot because they have so many more constraints.

“This is where I think that we as a community, as individuals and as people who have older parents and grandparents really have to step up.

“Whatever we have access to, even if it’s a letter or a postcard.

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“Most of us would know someone elderly living around us or across the street. We may not know his name but it wouldn’t take much for me to put a postcard in to his letterbox and check if he needs something.

“An older person is not always going to ask for help. There are issues about pride and about burden’ - I do not want to burden someone else, I don’t want to put other people out.

“This might be much more prolonged than we can manage.

“Anything we can do to alleviate the stress on old people we must do.”

Originally published as Grandparents’ guide to staying safe in self-isolation