Elderly

[Smiffy]

Not sure who that was aimed at paul as I dont see any "taking it out of context" just people giving their own thoughts, but for me my responsibilities to my parents will increase if tshtf as there wont be anyone else around to help them

It's something i have prepped for as far as possible but everyone knows difficult decisions might have to be taken

Being a pensioner/elderly yourself I assume you have given the subject a lot of thought ?

[bigpaul]

why is it when I put a general remark it turns into a personal attack on me? and no, I'm not flippin elderly you young sprog, didn't you know 66 is the new 40?? there's still some on here I can walk rings around. and no I haven't given old age much of a thought, although I have told the wife when I get too old and infirm to take me and leave me on Dartmoor and pick the corpse up again later!

[River Song]

BP

I believe that Smiffy was right. I too have read all the posts in this thread and not one
was 'out of context'. Now because that was pointed out, you take it as a personal attack.

Maybe just this once, it isn't about you.

Play Nice -- please

[bigpaul]

for once it WAS about me, Smiffy called me elderly not you ME, so yes it was personal.

[Little Lou]

Meanwhile, back at the original topic...

This may sound bonkers, but in some ways I think the elderly may have it better than we think post SHTF. Today many people think of elderly people as useless and a burden, but post SHTF there will be so much they can do.

Think 'tribal' as RS says. We will have endless small manual tasks that we don't need now, but could all easily be done by a sedentary person - from keeping look-out to sewing clothes, from pickling walnuts to shelling peas, from watching the babies to making the herbal infusions. Even more importantly, they will feel useful, and if there's anything that really helps keep dementia at bay, it's that.

I accept that health is an issue, but I also wonder how necessary these 'meds' we speak of really are. We aren't so hung up on them in the UK as the US, and it's not so very long ago that old people who took pills were the rare exception rather than the rule. They still lived to their eighties and nineties...

This is only a personal theory, but I wonder if one reason we see so much dementia in modern life is that people are living past their natural 'sell by date'. Are we really doing ourselves such a favour by making our bodies keep going when they're ready to give up? Of course we must help our sick and elderly for as long and as much as we possibly can, but I think the biggest thing that needs to change is our expectations. Post SHTF life expectancy will probably go back to the old 'three score and ten' - which people maintained long before there were any serious medicines at all...

[MaryN]

I'm inclined to agree with Little Lou above. The elderly do not need to be considered a burden, and as she says they could usefully contribute in perhaps less physical tasks. If families come together post SHTF then their contribution will be invaluable - they could perform the small time consuming tasks while the more able members get on with the tough stuff. Personally, I only have one elderly family member left and that is the OH's mother (!), and she's not up to much so it would probably be a bullet (joking!). Even in really crappy circumstances I think everyone should be valued, but I suspect that lack of medication may well dictate what happens to some of the older members.

[Rush2112]

(23 April 2014, 17:20)Smiffy Wrote: my responsibilities to my parents will increase if tshtf as there wont be anyone else around to help them

It's something i have prepped for as far as possible but everyone knows difficult decisions might have to be taken

That is my position too. In addition, many of the situations we've been discussing apply to all ages unfortunately. God forbid, but what if a loved one broke their back or something like that. Bad things happen to younger people too sometimes.

Post event as presented, if your in a group setting, ultimate decision should be made by the family. If the person in question is posing a threat to the group however, then the entire family is banished if they wont allow it to be done in a respectful manner. No hard feelings, just take what you can handle and go.

[Scythe13]

The more I think about this, the more I think about utilising the older generations knowledge base. Things like how to darn socks, teaching children basic skills, teaching unskilled adults useful skills e.g. gardening, skinning rabbits, etc.

But the problem for me, when illnesses and degenerative issues occur.

My wife has worked with older people in care, so we'd have that advantage. But it might make sense to do some volunteer work at an old people's home, to get some experience and ideas of how to cope and what care they would need.

[Tarrel]

An elderly person's prospects post-SHTF will vary so much depending on their individual circumstances, as has been mentioned above. Example; my Mother is 85 and lives independently in an apartment in our compound. She is not on any medication, apart from an anti-inflammatory for arthritis, is mobile and mentally alert. She also grew up in the "make do and mend" war years. Post-SHTF, given our situation and her circumstances, I think she'd fare quite well - unless security took a serious dive and we had to bug out.

There are, however, so many things that could affect other elderly people to the point of truncating their life span; lack of availability of critical medication or specialist medical care, lack of heating, the shock of the event that caused TSTHTF, susceptibility to infections that we could fight off without antibiotics, but an older person might not, etc, etc.

Many doomsters predict a die-off as a result of a societal collapse or other such event. Bear in mind this doesn't have to be caused by people shooting each other in the street. A reduction in life expectancy, together with maybe a rise in infant mortality in the harsher post-SHTF environment, would be enough to cause a population decline over a couple of decades. (Although a few pitch-battles will certainly help things along!)

[bigpaul]

not all old people die as a result of a serious medical condition, some just die of old age, my grandparents were in their 90s when they "shuffled off", my dad was 83, mother in law was in her 90s, I have a friend who is 88, he cant walk very far...bad hips but he's still got "all his marbles" and he could teach you all a thing or two. sure a lot of people will die post SHTF without the proper care but that goes for younger people too with any serious medical condition....young lad on the news today got bowel cancer at 15..so it isn't just oldies.