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Elderly in Australia

by Suhaila Usuludin ~ July 12th, 2008. Filed under: Community, Geriatrics, Latest News.

To readers,

I’m currently in La Trobe University, Australia, doing a degree conversion in Occupational Therapy. It’s been 2 weeks since I first arrived here. While doing my weekly shopping in the markets and supermarkets, I had noticed several things about the elderly and society here in Australia.

Firstly, they are very much independent. I saw many of them going to the malls on their own, taking public transportation and doing their grocery shopping. Some of them walked aided with a walking stick while some with the rollater or even the motorised wheelchair! Crikey! This is a big difference in the elderly back in my own country. Most of them are accompanied by maids. Yup, this includes both my grandmothers. They are semi-dependent on their maid to help them do their activities of daily living.

Secondly, the society seems acceptable with aged people walking with aids. Back in Singapore, one would most probably stare at a n elderly person with rollator along the aisle of a supermarket (if there’s one). In contrast, people here are cool. Even the kids do not stare in great shock.

Thirdly, this is the first time i saw the public transport here lowered down the entrance corner of the bus to ensure safely of a needed individual when alighting the bus. Cool right? I don’t know if the SBS in Singapore has one since I have never seen it in action before.

It’s really amazing on how living in other country for even such a short time can widen one’s perspective of life. Now, I’m still having my orientation. So looking forward to start of semester on 21st July.

Till then!

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For Academic Citations
If you need to do a citation to this posting, you can copy below in the various format and paste your academic work (or report).

AMA citation:
Usuludin S. Elderly in Australia. Occupational Therapy. 2008. Available at: http://occtherapy.hazmanaziz.com/blog/2008/07/12/elderly-in-australia/. Accessed July 30, 2010.

APA citation:
Usuludin, Suhaila. (2008). Elderly in Australia. Retrieved July 30, 2010, from Occupational Therapy Web site: http://occtherapy.hazmanaziz.com/blog/2008/07/12/elderly-in-australia/

Chicago citation:
Usuludin, Suhaila. 2008. Elderly in Australia. Occupational Therapy. http://occtherapy.hazmanaziz.com/blog/2008/07/12/elderly-in-australia/ (accessed July 30, 2010).

Harvard citation:
Usuludin, S 2008, Elderly in Australia, Occupational Therapy. Retrieved July 30, 2010, from <http://occtherapy.hazmanaziz.com/blog/2008/07/12/elderly-in-australia/>

MLA citation:
Usuludin, Suhaila. "Elderly in Australia." 12 Jul. 2008. Occupational Therapy. Accessed 30 Jul. 2010. <http://occtherapy.hazmanaziz.com/blog/2008/07/12/elderly-in-australia/>

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2 Responses to Elderly in Australia

  1. Hazman Aziz
    July 13th, 2008 at 10:45 am

    Yups, when I was first there. I thought that they are very creative too.

  2. Suhaila Usuludin
    July 20th, 2008 at 12:51 pm

    Yup, I’m amazed by how independent they are as compared to those back home.

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