Elderly Challenge - Observation 2 (9th June)

For the past few days I have observed that HDB Buildings are less elderly friendly. Firstly the lifts. If a senior citizen has trouble walking or is in a wheel chair, it will be very difficult for them. If there is a fire, lifts will not be able to be used. So if they stay in a high level they will have a hard time trying to escape from the fire. If they have trouble walking climbing down the stairs will be very slow and arduous. Even with assisted help the journey will still be slow and painful. It will just become much safer the senior citizen. If the person is in a wheel chair they will never be able to go down. If there is someone to help them the person who is helping must be very strong so that they can push the person down step by step without losing their grip. A suggestion to HDB will be to have half the staircase with normal stairs and the other half with a slope that has tracks for wheel chairs. Moreover wheel chairs would be a good investment for people who can not walk fast, so that when an emergency like this happens they can use it against the tracks.

Another problem is the lifts. Any senior citizen in a wheel chair would need to use the lift. But wheel chairs take up half the space of the lift. This means that if there a lot of people waiting in the void deck for the lift, many people will have to wait as at the most only two other people other than the person in the wheel chair and the helper would be able to go in, unlike under normal circumstances where 8 people can fit in with a squeeze. A good improvement would be to increase the size of lifts so that they are wheel chair friendly.

Most shelters cum connectors surrounding my block have very bumpy surfaces. For anybody in a wheel chair this will cause them to shake a lot. This will cause extreme pain to the spinal cord or their legs if they are very week. If the senior citizen cannot walk properly the chances of them tripping and falling even with a walking stick is very high. I suggest that a flat surface is built but with the smoothness of sand paper. This will give the elderly grip but a smooth ride.

This time I feel that if these ideas are all suggested it could really be a safer place for the elderly to live in.