I just want to reflect on a topic which Rade, one of the Sir John Reid recipients, who ever so quietly touched on last week, namely that there are “so many old people whom no one ever visits”.

At one point in my varied career, I was a young hospital social worker assisting families with moving family members into long term care, overwhelmingly older people. I calculated it would have been about 800 or more people. I used to say to families when asked that they still had a job to do, keep visiting their relative.

But I’m afraid that guilt inhibited many of them, and for many, many more continuing to visit a person who couldn’t remember who they were was too much. Lots of us believe I think, that it’s our memories which makes us what we are. I have a friend who argues, based on some ancient philosophy that what makes us an individual is our relationships. I’m not wise enough to know, maybe it’s a bit of both memories and relationships that makes us who we are.

I do know this though, that it is important to keep visiting isolated older people. And I know that I am grateful that this club runs a very well received annual Seniors lunch, which for those people who attend is a highlight. And thank you to those who do continue to visit.

Philip Cornish

Thank you to Philip Cornish for providing this reflection on 5 March 25

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