From the Front Page Sections, translated…
Another tragic tale in Hsinbei City of the stresses that cracked the caretakers. The sixty-seven year-old Kao, took his emotionally troubled son, burned coal, committed suicide, and this showed, that there would be, a ton of support needed, for the caretakers, emotionally, and physically too.
When the family members had fallen ill, the primary caretakers, in the process of caretaking, would be challenged in the physical, the social, the psychological, as well as the economical, and family relations fronts. In my experience of offering the services to the families in need, the caretakers of the elderly are needing different things compared to the caretakers of other age groups, and it’d become, a multifaceted problem that needs to be examined, in multiple angles.
The caretakers who are elderly (65 and older), are already, declining in physical abilities, they may even have their own illnesses, needed the assistance of others to care for oneself, and, at the same time, they’d had to, care for one’s own handicapped middle aged children too, the challenges on the body is to be noted.
It is, a time where the individuals should be enjoying their retirements, but, they’re faced with, the hardships of caretaking, it can, cause adverse affects to the psyche too, senses of helplessness, of being beaten, of guilt too, will all surface, plus the pressures from the outside, causing the psychological health to deteriorate.
The elderly caretakers (the parents), with children in the midlife stages, who had to deal with their separate families and work too, and, they would have difficulties, caring for one’s own siblings, and, in the lacking of support and rest, a lot of the families are with the elderly caretakers, handling the cares of their own young and disabled child, and, this loneliness in care will push the elderly caretakers, into that dark place even more.
And, the elderly caretakers will also face the issues of death, fearing that, they may not be there, to care for their sick children, and feared, if the future might bring their other kids more stresses, and so, they’d rather care for the young on their own, to carry the pressures all by themselves, and not let go.
For the elderly caretakers, as the pressures from the caretaking intensifies, they would be more than likely, to choose rash ways to handle it.
And so, this, would be THE problem, for the elderly generations who are looking after the younger and handicapped offspring, because they’re aging, and, they’re no longer as able-bodied OR energetic as they used to be, and so, they’d become, easily cracked, and, there’s still a LACK of social support system for them.