Commentary
Many S’porean seniors have only their spouse for support. When injury strikes, it can upend two lives
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When one elderly person suffers a fall or an illness, the caregiving burden often falls on a frail spouse, say the writers. This then turns a single incident into a dual vulnerability, revealing an immediate caregiving gap.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Goh Jing Wen and Tan Kok Yang
It is the sort of accident that could become all too common in Singapore. The irony is that the 78-year-old woman had been trying to guard against it.
She had started attending a falls prevention programme when she slipped and fell outside her bathroom. Chiao fractured her hip, remained using a wheelchair for weeks and her daily routines crashed to a halt.
