Help us make the most of our final years

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

Barbara Lewis’s address to the NZNO public meeting was a courageous and excellent summary of the situation in many homes and rest homes in our country. I thank her for her passion, honesty and call-out to those who may look at the end of life as not such an important need.

We can argue forever about ages of importance. Really, every age is the most important to those who live it.

To live so long is a gift, a blessing — and sometimes a painful, sad and lonely existence.

We are not so much of an exciting challenge to nurse. We are not cute and cuddly as babies. We are not young and looking forward to a long, fulfilled life, and we are not always thankful for a life that has passed us by with happy memories or ones we would rather forget.

We often have no control of our bodies and minds, and can be most difficult and unpredictable, but we are human and, inside, someone who has been loved and has loved.Someone who has been beaten down with life or someone who has made life wonderful for others. Some have lost everything they have loved. Some are blessed to have their loved ones near.

Whoever we are, we are here needing care and support to live as best we can in a world that often forgets.

I urge those in charge of the healthcare workforce and training of nurses and assistants to give them a pathway that sustains their potential, their interest, their own sustainable living and a real understanding of ageing in all its aspects.

These last years are all we have. These memories will be our last. Wherever we are will be our last places and the people who care for us will often be the last we will see.

The whole of our lives are in our last days. I am asking our country, our leaders, with our carers, to help us remember with love and gladness that our lives mattered.

A huge thank you to all who care, in homes and rest homes, for those who cannot care for themselves. May God grant you blessings in your future care.

Nona Aston