Where can old folks go?

There was once a time where I was being hospitalized a few days, I got to know from a patient staying in the same hospital bed beside me that her own family has neglected her. She’s an old lady around the age of late 50’s or early 60’s who has already retired from her job. Since her retirement, she can now get all her money from the EPF (Employees Provident Fund) and her daughter who is married with 5 children still staying with her, is eyeing on her money.

This old lady told me of her sad life where her own daughter is lazy to work and the son-in-law is also a slack. They rely on her to give them money and a place to stay and she’s not a wealthy person herself. She countless times advise them to get a real job, be independent to support themselves and their family, but all they could say to her is, if she give them all her EPF savings then only they have money to be successful. Her daughter not only always asked her for money, but also does not bother to even visit her in the hospital where it was only a walking distance from home.

This is a very sad poor old lady. I could not understand how her own flesh and blood could treat her like that. By the way her own daughter treated her, I think she can consider she does not have this daughter at all. Where has their love, compassion and humanity goes? If I am the old lady, I won’t give them any more money and I would consider enrolling myself to a nursing home. At least in a nursing home there would have someone who could look after her and she could make friends with people her age group. In a care home residents, people can actually have a balance between independence and communal living.