Among those he helps is a member who was deeply depressed. One day Rescigno accompanied the man to a car repair shop and noticed that his spirits lifted when he got away from the house. Now they meet weekly at a diner, and the man no longer talks about suicide. Too often today, the medical system treats the elderly's problems only with drugs, which often spawn more problems. Some 32,000 hip fractures and 16,000 car accidents each year can be traced to the use of prescription drugs to treat the elderly.
Expenditure leads to more expenditure.
Yet sometimes all people need is a friend. Indeed, sometimes all they need is to be a friend. Elderplan Senior Manager Mashi Blech tells the story of a double amputee, partly paralyzed by a stroke, who spent his days alone in his apartment. Instead of sending him a volunteer, I asked him to be a team coordinator. So the man, a former real-estate salesman, became leader of a team of volunteers.