Ana Rodrigo |
Madrid (EFE).- Around one in ten elderly suffers neglect by their caregivers, a form of abuse that usually remains hidden inside homes and centers, and that occurs, among other causes, due to poor food or lack of hygiene in their care.
On the World Day for Awareness of Abuse and Maltreatment in Old Age, which the UN commemorates on June 15, the elderly denounce these situations in various campaigns, ask to eliminate ageism (discrimination based on their age) and demand that it be put into The new care model agreed a year ago between Social Rights and the autonomous communities is underway.
Malnutrition due to neglect or abandonment
The cases of malnutrition due to negligence or abandonment by the caregiver are not the most frequent forms of abuse, led by physical, psychological and economic.
And they are not always produced intentionally, Javier Gómez Pavón, head of the Geriatrics service at the Red Cross University Hospital Madrid, explains to EFE.
“This negligence can be active abandonment with intentionality or passive abandonment due to the inability of the caregiver to provide it, for example, if he does not have financial means, also has dementia or has mobility difficulties.”
“Malnutrition is usually linked to warning signs such as poor grooming, clothing, skin and skin care (hair, nails), presence of ulcers, etc,” says the geriatrician, who acknowledges that few of these cases come to the consultations.
Various studies by the WHO and the scientific journal Lancet place the incidence of this type of abuse in the elderly at between 4% and 12%, although the data may be higher, adds the expert. “There is more abuse due to violence or passive abandonment, that is, for not visiting them or for leaving them alone.”
The Citizen Union for the Improvement in Residences has launched a campaign to denounce and make visible poor nutrition in the centers, which can lead to malnutrition and dehydration of the residents.
“Malnutrition is caused both by the poor quality of the food, which most of the time is bland and unappetizing due to its appearance, and by the lack of personnel to feed those who can no longer do it for themselves, it is not They respect their times and frequently go almost without eating,” Luis Páramo, a member of that organization, told EFE.
This alliance of social entities denounces that attention is not paid to the weight loss of the elderly in the centers. It is frequently the family members, not the medical teams, who realize this, since the weight of the residents is not controlled nor is their nutritional status evaluated on a regular and periodic basis.
It demands control by professionals through analytics of nutritional levels to adapt diets to the needs of each person and alerts family members of the importance of being vigilant with food, “which is not a minor issue”, to be very demanding about their nutritional status.
“You don’t know how to do anything”, “you make a fool of yourself”
Underestimating the capabilities of the elderly is also a form of abuse. And it is carried out with apparently harmless phrases, but they are not, such as: “you better not go, with your age you better stay home”, “let me do it, you don’t know how to do anything anymore” or “take care of yourself better you don’t have anything better to do than this.”
The Red Cross explains it in the initiative that it launches this June 15 to try to change ageist attitudes and behaviors. This last year it has carried out more than 14,000 interventions in this area, with the “Good treatment” project that promotes
The elderly demand the compromised new model of care
The Platform for the Elderly and Pensioners (PMP) has launched an open letter in which it urges the Public Administrations and the rest of the care sector “clear actions that move towards a new care model”.
“A model focused on respect and guarantee of the rights and dignity of the elderly that necessarily involves the defense of a new accreditation and quality system in all care services, especially in residences”, indicates the platform , which represents more than 15,000 associations and 5.7 million affiliated people.
Remember that in July it will be one year since the agreement reached in the Territorial Council of Social Services to give priority to care centered on the person at home and in the community, and move towards a model of residences similar to homes, with “quality care and support to the elderly to continue with their own life project”.
UN: By 2030 there will be more elderly than young
By 2050, the global population of people aged 60 and over will double. Between 2019 and 2030, the number of people aged 60 and over is projected to increase by 38%, from 1 billion to 1.4 billion, outnumbering youth globally.
These are figures that the United Nations recalls on World Day for Awareness of Abuse and Mistreatment in Old Age, “a social problem that exists in developing and developed countries.” Approximately 1 in 6 people over the age of 60 have experienced some type of abuse in community settings.
The rates of abuse of the elderly are high in institutions such as nursing homes and long-term care centers: 2 out of 3 workers in these institutions indicate that they have inflicted abuse in the last year, says the UN, which predicts an increase in the problem in view of the aging of the population.