The pandemic has shown us how easy it is for older people in the community to become disconnected and isolated. Age UK’s October 2020 report states “how crushingly hard day to day life has been for millions of older people during the pandemic and how important it is that we support our older population”. For many, being at risk and in isolation has led to cognitive and physical decline, and anxiety which can be exasperated by a lack of access to the technologies which can help people stay connected. The pandemic has given us the opportunity to consider the way that older people in our communities are looked after by society, considering the stimulus needed to promote healthy ageing through physical and mental engagement, whilst balancing this alongside the risks that this pandemic and any other future events might bring. It has also highlighted the unsuitability of the living arrangements that many elderly people find themselves in, and provides us with an opportunity to consider a new infrastructure to proactively cater for older people’s physical and mental needs that is a proactive, not reactive approach to ‘right fit’ housing that enables rather than disables the elderly population.
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