During this Senior Citizens Month, the territory should recommit to ensuring that the elderly are treated with the respect they deserve.

 

Too often, seniors both here and abroad are left behind in the modern world. Though the Virgin Islands as a society continues to treat its elders better than many other countries, the territory is by no means immune to this unfortunate trend.

Accordingly, we’re glad that the government is planning activities in celebration of this month’s observance, especially given that last May passed with precious little fanfare honouring the elderly.

In the coming weeks and throughout the year, we hope that the entire community will get involved in reaching out to seniors through public and private activities alike. There are plenty of opportunities: Various events are held frequently at senior centres, and volunteers and visitors are almost always welcome.

Meanwhile, there is much more to be done in the way of public policy.

The Adina Donovan Home for the Elderly, for example, is far from adequate. In spite of employees’ best efforts, the aging facility is uncomfortable, often overcrowded, and largely unsuitable for its purpose, according to its recent annual reports.

Though successive governments have promised for more than a decade that a new senior home would be a priority, the project repeatedly has been sidelined. Most recently, a site was cleared in Spooners Estate in 2012 and 2013, but work stalled shortly thereafter because of a lack of funding. We hope that it will restart as soon as possible.

Delays have also plagued a national healthy-aging policy that government has promised at least since 2011. Research got under way the same year, and some progress has been reported since, but no draft has been circulated.

This policy should come before the next general election, along with other promises the National Democratic Party-led government made upon taking office in November 2011: establishing a geriatric ward at Peebles Hospital; developing a seniors bureau: recording oral histories; and creating new opportunities to utilise the skills of the elderly.

The territory’s seniors, on whose shoulders the Virgin Islands’ current prosperity was built, surely deserve this much and more.

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