Related Stories

• Achieving the unachievable!
  
  
• At what cost?
  
  
• Golden daffodils keeping the fight with cancer alive
  
  
• Ones to salute!
  
  
• The Celebration
  
  
• The Lismore money
  
  
• Ellen’s Week – Sleep deprivation
  
  
• No such plan for post offices?
  
  
• Suits You!
  
  
• To all emergency crews – credit deserved
  
  
• Ellen’s Week – The Big Apple’s Core
  
  
• Funding slump another blow for local communities in Cork
  
  

‘I am going mad with loneliness’ was the stark cry for help from one male caller to the Senior Help Line this month …

"I am going mad with loneliness” was the stark cry for help from one male caller to the Senior Help Line this month, this plaintive message echoed in a number of ways from other callers this year.

Over 2,000 people in Ireland per month called the Senior Help Line service in the first three months of 2014.  In all 6,301 calls were made to the peer to peer national listening service, Ireland’s only such service for older people.

In spite of a hopeful time of year, and a lift in the economic climate, many callers to Senior Help Line remain locked in a hidden world of silence and loneliness.

The high volume of calls since the start of the year is a sign of the challenges that older people are facing. Callers had a wide variety of concerns including the cost of living, cuts to services, instances of elder abuse and feelings of suicide. The most common factor however, was a sense of isolation and loneliness. For many people Senior Help Line is their only means of contact with other people.
 
For many older people, their trusted circle of friends has diminished and there is no one to share a worry or even the joys of life with.  Isolation can create a build up of problems, which is ultimately not good for either the individual or society.  Any older person who is worried about issues concerning health, family or any other matter, is openly invited to call Senior Helpline on 1850 440 444.

blog comments powered by Disqus