Students argue their case on World Elder Abuse Day 2009

"Should we send our parents into a rest home where they will spend the rest of their days smelling boiled cabbage or do we keep them at home smelling the roses?". That was one of the arguments put forward by the Francis Douglas Memorial College debating team as they urged a packed audience to consider the right of older people to be cared for by their own family. 

The New Plymouth Girls High School team put up an equally strong argument by highlighting the risks of elder abuse in situations where older people are cared for by relatives who can't cope with their care due to financial, emotional or other pressures. For some older people the family home is simply not a safe and loving place to be.

Te Hauora Pou Heretanga's Elder Abuse service team, Kathy Glass and Lila Hunter, were among the 60-70 people who stayed on after this year's Young At Heart wellbeing day to watch the debate. It was the first event of its kind that they had organised, and is something they are likely to repeat as it allowed a mainly older audience to consider the issues of elderly care and abuse from a young person's perspective.

While New Plymouth Girls High won by just one point, the judges remarked on the incredibly powerful argument that both teams had put forward and their confident grasp of quite a complex topic. Feedback from the audience was really positive - they enjoyed the debate and found that it dealt with a serious topic in a creative and fun way.