The fact that people are now living longer than in previous generations presents many difficulties and challenges to modern society. The provision of accommodation for the elderly, in the most vulnerable years of their lives, in Bantry remains an urgent need. The provision of adequate and suitable accommodation for our elderly is the responsibility of both Church and people. There appears to be a great shortage of long-stay beds in Bantry. There is also a pressing need to ensure suitable halfway houses for the elderly whose families can only provide limited support on release from hospital. Up to recent years many of our elderly, in the winter of their lives, were cared for in Mount Carmel Hospital Clonakilty. However, this is no longer an option. The basic unit of society has changed over the past decade or so, resulting in the extended family no being in a position, or willing, to give the desired and necessary support to the elderly. These are some of the contributory factors to consider when making provision for the chronically ill patient. The elderly patient when discharged from hospital, especially where there are two elderly people living together, is at high risk for re-admission. The provision of a Unit which is not hospital-based is an urgent need in our Bantry community. Most of our elderly don’t need to be accommodated in a place where medical and nursing staff are employed, when they are forced by age or disability to leave their own homes. They can, cost effectively, be taken care of in a ‘Local Unit’ staffed by a House Mother/Father which could be supported by care workers and a cook to provide meals which could be taken in a communal dining room. This Unit could be further enhanced by the attendance of a qualified Occupational Therapist who would set up suitable programmes for the elderly. It could also include the involvement of a person who would have sufficient qualifications to teach keep fit exercises, all of which would be richly therapeutic for the elderly. In addition, because of this special Unit, relatives may well be motivated to give their elderly relatives/friends a day out occasionally. Attendance at the local Day Care Centre could perhaps be worked out with the Bantry Care for the Aged. All of this can only have the effect of preventing the unacceptable emotional trauma that our elderly experience when distanced from family and friends at the most vulnerable stage of their lives. A most suitable location for such a unit would be the Peace Park at Newtown which is in the ownership of Cork County Council, as is the adjoining land where a housing development is presently taking place. Therefore the park, which is rather small in size, can no longer be sufficiently extended. For the past number of years the Peace Park has been maintained by Bantry Tidy Towns Committee, through FAS schemes. Unfortunately, the Park has not been considered that popular by members of the public. I believe that the use of the Peace Park site as suggested would be in keeping with the wishes of the original owners of the site.
