This becomes important in service delivery since what is acceptable to an 80 year old person may not be acceptable to a person 65 years of age. This may prevent an older person from standing in line. Medications may cause confusion in an older person or a greater susceptibility to problems such as dehydration. These and other similar problems may increase the difficulties in obtaining assistance. For some persons, these losses compound each other.
Disasters sometimes provide a final blow making recovery particularly difficult for older persons.
This may also be reflected in an inappropriate attachment to specific items of property. This becomes more critical in disasters when furnaces and air conditioners may be unavailable or unserviceable. Other targeting by criminals may also develop. These issues need to be addressed in shelters and in housing arrangements. This is especially true for older women who had a spouse who dealt with these areas.