Assignment 2: How the cold weather affects...
The cold weather can be severe. Illnesses spread like wild fire and financial worries can get you down. I wanted to see how the cold winter would have an affect on the elderly so I went to a nursing home in Penwortham to find out.
The severe winter weather can particularly affect the elderly as they have weaker immune systems. Care homes aren’t immune from the knock on effect of winter weather. In communal living, illness can easily be spread by visitors coming in.
“We encourage residents to have flu and pneumonia vaccinations”, said Chris Mellor, Manager of Priory Lane Care Home.
“Once there is an outbreak, it’s difficult to stop it spreading”, she added.
Common illnesses the elderly contract are flu and the Norovirus, a vomiting and diarrhoea bug. These can be more serious in an elderly person because of a weaker immune system:
“Their immune systems don’t function like that of a younger person. Hearts and other organs don’t work as effectively and most of them have some sort of circulation impairment due to their age”, Mrs Mellor added.
It’s not just care homes that are affected in the winter, elderly people living in the community have a lot of things to worry about and it’s not just illness. Old people worry about money and fuel prices have risen recently. Even though people are receiving more money from the government, the money will not compensate them.
If people can’t afford the gas and electricity bills, it can result in poor heating in the home. Hypothermia is common due to a lack of heating, even a cold can become a more dangerous chest infection.
"Unless they are seen regularly by a G.P. people won't get the vaccinations they need", Mrs Mellor said.
Keeping warm and eating well are vital ways for elderly people to stay well through winter. I found some information about vaccines here and for more information on this subject, I found this to be a useful website.
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