Senior Citizenship

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo

 

ACCORDING to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the projected population of senior citizens (60 years old and above) for 2020 (Medium Assumption), is 9.5M. Of this total, 5.2M (55%) are female and (4.3M (45%) are male.

With the onset of COVID-19, seniors, assumed to be most vulnerable to the disease, were not allowed mobility outside their homes during the lockdown, and excluded from public areas. In Puregold stores, seniors were not allowed to shop.

Seniors these days (mostly in their early 60s) are not the usual seniors of old. They maintain healthy habits, they work out, they lead vibrant lifestyles, they travel. They are mobile and fuel the country’s economy by spending their hard-earned money in worthwhile endeavors, like, treating their grandchildren to places their parents will think twice to afford. They are not the usual people you see in the ads: droopy, walking in canes, or sitting in a rocking chair. That image of immobility and weakness is hardly the “senior” today.

That is the reason why there is a need to review old paradigms and recast old perceptions. It is unfair to lodge them with the helplessness and inability to take care of their own safety during these times. In fact, their experience in life makes them more aware of their vulnerability, and therefore are prone to observe precautions and engage in activities that boost their immune system and maintain their mental health to survive these trying times.

Protection, yes. But allow them to boost their immune system and ensure their mental wellbeing: get the sunshine, breathe in the freshness in the parks, walk with their friends. Allow them to continue interacting with their normal social networks and support groups and get on with their normal routines. They know about wearing masks and social distancing. Too much fear and paranoia over protocols can make people crazy.

People are getting crazy as a result of lockdowns. The Guardian had quoted the Royal College of Psychiatrists that in the United Kingdom, “People with no history of mental illness are developing serious psychological problems for the first time as a result of the lockdown, amid growing stresses over isolation, job insecurity, relationship breakdown and bereavement.”

Another psychiatrist observed “Of the people I am seeing, many are extremely unwell with symptoms of severe mental illness: serious changes in their moods, belief system and hallucinations. Life events associated with Covid-19 have triggered this or led to a relapse for almost all of them. Relationships are now all feeling lockdown pressures. Routines have disappeared.”

According to the same report, the condition which had been names corona-psychosis was normally observed among persons who had lost their jobs and were “having trouble sleeping, becoming anxious from watching the news on TV and no longer getting social support through their normal networks.”

While most of those reported were males in the 18-25 years old age range, it is not far-fetched to think that the condition has already spread as quickly as the COVID-19 in most countries, among all ages of the population, across gender and socio-economic strata.

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