Old Folk's Home

by Yeo Wee Kwong and Ng Chia Yi

Old folk’s home, a place where the aged people are being sent into and are given proper cares. However, what we can see in the old folk’s home is the gloomy faces.. Nowadays, the role of the old folk’s home is being “misused”. Many people, especially those white collars, usually send their aged parents to the old folk’s home and never ever visit them again even during their leisure hours. Eventually, the old folk’s home actually becomes the “hell” of the old people.

What causes this phenomenon arises? And what we should do to help the public change their perception towards old folk’s home? Well, we should be awared that the old folk’s homes have silently contributed to our society. It plays a crucial role in our daily life, especially those who are busy with their works everyday. Old folk’s home help taking care of their aged parents when they are away for works. If the old folk’s home is not existed, I think that the world would become chaos!

Why many people think that the old folk’s home is a “hell” for the old people? Many children rather send their parents to old folk’s home than taking care of them themselves due to the busyness of works and time consuming. Besides, aged people are considered as the obstacle of their children in their life since they are unable to manage themselves. It may cause many troubles to their children. For example, the old people are usually forgetful and forget where they keep their belongings. So, it contribute to the problems which the children will never visit and bring their parents back to home to avoid this kind of problems.

Definitely, the feeling of being abandoned is not present enough for those aged people. So, some changes and enhancement should be done to change the perception of society towards the old folk’s home. First of all, we may change the name of old folk’s home to for example, home of caring and love. By doing this, we can stress that old folk’s home is not a place where the old people is abandoned but is to take care of the aged generation.

Besides, there should be some changes on the management of old folk’s home. In my opinion, I think that some regulation should be created for those who want to send their parents to old folk’s home. For example, the children are compulsory to visit their parents once a week and bring them back to home during certain festivals. The old folk’s home also can operate in the way same as day-care centre where their parents are only sent to old folk’s home during working hours.

Facilities In the old folk’s home have to be upgraded too. For example air-conditioner, bedrooms and so on. Professionals like radiotherapies, dietitian, and physiotherapies are required in old folk’s home because the old people need special and proper care.

In conclusion, old people once contributed to our country too. Without them, the development of our country is nearly impossible. And remember that, we will become old in the future time and we also don’t wish to be abandoned too. So, we should send our parents to old folk’s home in purpose for our parents’ safety when we are away for works.