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Supporting my fav seniors #6　　The “Last Mile” and Productivity

 “I used to have no problem walking up the slope in front of my house, to go to the community center on top of the hill.

But now, this slope has become too much for me, and I’ve lost touch with other members of the activity group at the center.”

 

This initial change then accelerates the process of giving up trying something and losing mental energy to live.

I recently hear more and more stories like this, a  vicious cycle older people face as they start having difficulty going out even in their neighborhoods, or the “last mile.”

 

When we talk about barriers to going out, we have mainly focused on transportation issues, such as older people giving up their driver’s licenses and local bus companies cutting back on their services.

To address these challenges, various measures have been taken such as community bus services. In some neighborhood groups, members give rides using their own cars to help older people go out.

 

But what I’ve been hearing lately is that a growing number of people are having difficulty going out, even within walking distance of their houses, although they are not certified as needing care or support in the public long-term care system.

Just the other day, I had a chance to speak with a person at an apartment residents association, who told me that more people are now having difficulty even getting to a meeting point when the association organizes an outing program.

 

But you know what? Many of these people saying “I can’t go” can actually walk. Indeed, they do go to hospital several times a month.

Hip pain sure could make it difficult to walk, but the real barrier could well be mental, a lack of motivation.


 

My mother, in her 80s, is no exception. She used to love going out and wouldn’t come home until the evening. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, however, she has rarely left home.

She does move around the house, but when it comes to going out, she often cancels the plan at the last minute.

 

Not long ago, her grandchild had a recital at a place only a 10-minute walk from her house, and we planned to go there together. But just as we left the front door, my mother turned back to the living room saying, “I’m coming down with a cold.”

It wasn’t her first time to cancel a plan like this, and going through this over and over makes not only herself but her family members, who have made plans with her, feel beyond disappointed and rather depressed.

 

“I have no problem getting exercise because I move around doing housework at home,” she insists. But the biggest problem since she stopped going out is a lack of  opportunities to feel something like “a sense of usefulness” as she no longer spends time with people other than her own family.

 

What I mean by “something like a sense of usefulness” is that non-family members can appreciate something really small in her, which the family living with her may not notice.

For example, she may have a friend who is feeling down because of family caregiving stress. She may say to the friend, “I understand how you feel, you’ll be alright!” and receive “Thank you” in return. Even such a small communication can make a difference.

 

As I watched my mother refusing to leave home, I remembered a story about a person who had set up a bench at the entrance of his mother’s house. She was in her 90s and rarely left home.

His mother would sit on the bench all day from the morning, knitting something, waving at kindergarteners passing by, and chatting and laughing with her neighbors. According to the son, her face has brightened up since the bench arrived.

 

If people face a mental barrier at the “last mile,” the barrier to leaving their houses and walking around the neighborhood, maybe we can bring something to create connections to their front doors…

It can be a bench, but it can be something else like potted flowers so that they can enjoy growing them in front of their houses and sharing them with neighbors. Maybe, having such a small thing can help start something wonderful…. My “creative” mind never stopped working even in the New Year’s break.


Shino Sawaoka

Associate Professor,

Dept. of Health Management,

Tokai University 

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