In modern society the quality of our lives is supposed to be getting better as society in general improves. I suppose if we look back 30 or 40 years ago we would not like to go back to how they lived, without all the modern conveniences like cars, washing machines, travel, holidays etc. however one of the drawbacks of modern life seems to be that we have less time for ourselves and others. For example if you're part of an international sales team very often you will spend a lot of time travelling from country to country, this sounds great but this type of lifestyle doesn't have the time for family life or taking care of elderly parents. You don't have to be part of an international sales team to be under this type of pressure to take care of your family needs, as a lot of modern jobs especially in high level management often takes too much of your personal time.



We have to stop and think about how we are going to take care of the elderly population? In each of our family structure we all have to provide some resources to take care of our parents or relatives in their time of need. Even though it's obvious to say but who is going to take care of us when we grow old? The answer to this question can be complicated and often will take a whole family working together to resolve it, if it can be resolved. As taking care of your elderly parents, relatives or friends can pose difficult issues to be resolved but it is something we have to take the time to consider and not dig our heads in the sand and hope the problem will go away. Even if the only thing you can do is pay for a nursing home type of environment, you have to think of where the money is going to come from in later years. As you need to plan not only for your parents but also yourself and your kids sometimes this can be overbearing.

There is no doubt about it that caring for the elderly and sick cannot be done without doctors nurses, hospitals, nursing homes etc. However when patients are able to leave the health environment and go to their home very often they will need extra care sometimes extra equipment. Health services are now very good as giving some services to friends and relatives that are willing to take care of people in the home situation. Like everything in recession early times one has to fight harder for any help that they require. As budgets are getting smaller and resources are drying up there isn't the same amount of help now than there was a year ago. This does not mean that we just accept it but it can mean that we lobby and fight for what we think is necessary under the circumstances.

In a lot of cases there are real needs to be taken care of, patients may need wheelchairs, walking aids, lifting aids, physiotherapy and much more. If you believe like I do a friend or relative will recover much quicker in the home environment then you will do your best to make that happen. Even though the quality of care is getting much better in nursing homes and hospitals there is nothing better than a patient being at home in a familiar environment. How often have you said yourself even after being away on holidays that there is nothing like home, imagine what this is like if you're not in the full of your health?