The elderly in society who are mostly isolated due to various reasons such as being in distant isolated areas, those disabled, or those without family need social support to prolong their lives. This could be through making friends with them, and helping them through the happy and dull moments of life by engaging them in conversations, which will make them share their lives with other people or amongst themselves when they come together (Friedman, 2011). This increases their quality of life as being in such a system acts as a shock absorber between them and the difficulties they face.
According to Friedman (2011), social support for the elderly could include trusted family members, friends, former workmates, social workers and health care providers. These are people who understand and empathetically perceive the old as themselves. For the elderly, the concerned people who are responsible have come up with organizations which come up with various activities bringing the elderly together. For example, some churches have come up with programs which give hope and stimulation to the elderly men and women in the society. Some of the activities include interactive seminars and picnics where the elderly interact with their loved ones and people from other elderly families and they share experiences.
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The society has a responsibility to take care of the elderly through social support starting with the immediate family members. Some families neglect their elderly members and to cub this social support professionals should make sure and come up with rules on how the elderly should be treated and taken care by family members. This can be done through schedules of taking the elderly for a walk, church, hospital check and visiting other relatives. Such activities will help low their depression rates, insomnia, dizziness and headaches improving their health statuses. It is the responsibility of all to take care of the elderly the way we would like to be taken care (Uchino, 2004).
