Gelisim News

Within the scope of the measures taken along with the appearance of coronavirus outbreak in Turkey which ravaged the World, a curfew of elderly people over 65 years old started to be implemented. After the decision, some people shared the images of citizens aged 65 and over through social media. The videos, including emotional violence against the elderly, received great reactions, especially those who watched footage of a citizen over the age of 65 showed a great reaction to the person who shot the image. Lecturer from Istanbul Gelisim University Gerontologist F. Sıla Ayan made a statement to Demirören News Agency (DHA) about the actions of people aged 65 and over on social media and how to behave against over 65.

“EMPATHY AND TOLERANCE IS IMPORTANT”

Sıla Ayan said: “Let’s imagine that we isolate a 65-year-old individual only because of the calendar age, is the 64-year-old person whose birthday was last week at much less risk? How much does it matter for a week? We know that a young individual who does not pay attention to self-protection and isolation can carry a virus to the house. The important thing is to empathize, tolerate and protect ourselves by isolating ourselves both as a carrier and as a patient. All we need is exchange of understanding.”

THEY HAVE EMOTIONAL NEEDS

Ayan drew attention to the necessity to include gerontologists, namely old age and aging science experts, in the loyalty groups organized to meet the needs of the elderly who stay at home.

Evaluating the actions against the elderly, especially on social media, Ayan said:

“We can hear the reproofs such as 'why are the elders still on the Street?' and 'why are they still on the benches?'. There is age discrimination. In fact, the only function of loyalty groups or social solidarity should not be shopping in the market or imprisoning them home by doing the things that the elderly do outside. They also have some needs, such as socializing, and the precautions to eliminate it also need to be solved. This is the underlying reason why those old people persistently continue to come out of the bank and do not want to break away from the congregation where they stubbornly come together. The only thing that needs to be satisfied is not market shopping, but they have emotional needs and concerns. There is a tension of being a group with a high risk of death in the face of a disease that even young people are very nervous. In this sense, sick elderly people are trying to tell us this by resisting these rules and even carrying the work to the official sanction dimension: ‘What I need is not just buying my bread, egg or yoghurt; there are much more things I need.’
 
WE DEFINE THE 65-74 YEAR OLD AS EARLY AGE

Emphasizing that the age of 65-74 years old is early age, 75-84 years old is aging, 85 years old and older is advanced age, Fatma Sıla Ayan said: “The age limit, which is also valid globally and in our country now, is 65 years old and above. However, this has a lot to do with the level of development and quality of life”, and continued:

“The definition we are talking about is the definition of western societies and our country. The United Nations initiates this limit as 60 years and older. In many definitions in Africa is defined as 50-55 years old because the average life span is short there. Gerontologists determine the old age limit, but the limit that is currently valid and taken into account in corona related decisions is 65 years of age and older. We see that the group most at risk in corona related deaths is 75 years old and above. In the 8 million elderly population in our country, this group represents 40 percent. In fact, 40 percent of 8 million are now at risk of infection. There are of course some physiological losses with old age. We see some losses and setbacks in systems and organs, but it is inevitable and not the same in every individual.”

“OUR CHRONOLOGICAL AGE DOES NOT DEFINE OUR CHARACTERISTICS”

Pointing out that our chronological age does not actually define our biological, social and psychological characteristics, Ayan said as follows:

“We use calendar age limits in the world, not only in the field of gerontology, but also in driving license and driving, voting, drinking alcohol, entering certain places, starting to study at schools, and in many of our daily practices. Our calendar age doesn't actually cover and define us literally. There are 12 subscales of aging revealed by Professor Dr. Ismail Tufan, which are adopted in the gerontology literature in Turkey. This includes many variables such as gender, the process we experience, our individual life story, a dynamic process, limited flexibility, biological life background, life habits, sports, and drug use. We cannot classify every individual over the age of 65 as homogeneous and universally valid.”

“THE REASON FOR INFECTION IS NOT ELDERLY MOBILITY”

Saying that the infection has become a global crisis is not the mobility of the elderly, Ayan said: “A group of elderly people affected by the infection is the age group revealing the percentage in the moment in terms of the death cases in Turkey. However, the transmission is mostly caused by the mobility of young people. In this case, it is necessary to read the implementation of a reflection mechanism of the pessimistic mood caused by the corona caused by stress, to the elderly in this way without making any decision regarding the mobility of the young people who are both carriers, asymptomatic and who have actually the disease.”

“THE NEED TO REMIND THE PSYCHOSOCIAL NEEDS OF THE ELDERLY”

Ayan answered the question of whether it is right that the elderly are on the street or not:
“We should not make decisions for them, we should make decisions with them. Because we are biopsychosocial beings and if young people reveal challenges about staying at home, and if they need to express the effects on the quarantine in social media through different channels, and even if they can easily break the quarantine rule because there is no official sanction, we should not overlook the elderly people who have psychosocial needs.”