The situation of the elderly people in Costa Rica

Dear Editor

I am writing to express my concerns about the situation of the elderly people in Costa Rica

There is not a culture in favor of senior citizens in Costa Rica and there’s no longer any respect for them. We have been listening about how they are suffering abandonment, discrimination, abuse and neglect daily and because of these issues they have been sinking into depression. The National Advisory for Older Adults (CONAPAM) estimates that three of every 10 seniors are abused (physically, psychologically, or in some other way.) In 2008, more than 1,000 seniors reported being victims of abuse, with the most suffering from abandonment or neglect. The organization has been tracking reported cases of abuse since 2005, and it has noticed an increase in reported cases because more people have been seeking help.

 However there are more issues such as physical abuse, psychological abuse, patrimonial abuse and institutional abuse. We have been reading and watching news about how people leave their elderly parents alone without care, without food, without help using the bathroom and without social interaction. Some people have been looking for the way to leave them alone in the hospitals and sometimes these elderly people have been force to move to  nursing homes, however they come in normal and, little by little, they deteriorate until they become depressed. There are two negative mentalities toward nursing homes in Costa Rica. First: People are indisposed to bring their parents to these nursing homes because they think it means they are a bad son or daughter; however it can mean a better life for them. And second one, when those people think that nursing homes are places to leave them there alone to be care by others and this is the real problem, because they are abandoned and forgotten by their relatives.

The government has been investing money and today we have a hospital dedicated to treating older people. However, we have to work together to reduce and eliminate these issues because, all these will affect all of us, but it’s not only laws or a change in labor practices that will improve the situation, we need to create a culture of respect among families and society.