Today at HillsCarPal we got a call from a Shut-in Senior, Betty who said that she would like to get out and about a little, if we could help make that happen. “Life being couped up alone was not all that much fun”, she said … and she had decided to try and do something about getting herself out to see friends that she had been neglecting but that it was hard for her to get around.
She seemed desperate to become more engaged with life again.
Explaining that HillsCarPal Ride Requests were made online, Betty said that she didn’t own a PC. So we told her about the option of getting someone she knew to do this for her.
We asked if she knew someone, maybe a neighbour or family member who could help her and she seemed interested for a minute or two in that possibility. In talking about her elderly sister who uses a PC and lives the other side of Sydney, Betty said “No. I couldn’t ask them. They lead busy lives. They are always out.” And the enquiry ended with Betty apologising for troubling us!
It was obvious from the conversation that Betty found asking for help not an easy thing to do even though she was desperate for a solution to her problem. She was OK asking a stranger but asking someone she knew seemed too big a hurdle?
It seemed that she may have fallen for the idea that her problem was not important; that she was not important.
Tell us how we can get Shut-in Seniors to step up and see that their situation is worthy of a solution …. and to ask for help from someone they know?
The HillsCarPal Team
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