“I wish someone had checked on my mother” – that’s the motivation behind an advertising campaign being launched today in the lead up to Christmas, one of the loneliest times of the year for elderly.
Greg Partington’s 86-year-old mother Mary Partington died after suffering a debilitating stroke in September 2021. He went to check on her after his brother hadn’t heard from her on his birthday.
Greg found her on the floor in her home and believes she’d been lying there for 20 hours. She died eight days later in hospital.
“I feel such grief that she was alone all that time,” he says.
The grief prompted the advertising guru and his sister to come up with a television and digital campaign to encourage people to check on their neighbours.
The ad tells the story of Joan and her neighbour Brian. It features a porch light that stays on in Joan’s home, when it normally would be off, prompting neighbour Brian to walk across the street and find Joan on the floor and in need of ambulance support.
The advertisement is designed to start a conversation about vulnerable and elderly people living alone.
“My mother's story happens again and again throughout our country and I wanted to bring this to the attention of Kiwis and for people to have a conversation in their homes about those people who are around them who are elderly, vulnerable and living alone.”
Age Concern chief executive Karen Billings-Jensen says “if you're seeing someone's curtains are still drawn or a light's on all night or you’re not seeing them out at the mailbox, or in the garden, then it’s good to check they're okay”.
She says Christmas is a particularly vulnerable time for the growing number of Kiwis living alone.
“A lot of regular services close down over the Christmas break so for people that use those meetings and groups as social connection, it means there's no one is checking up on their health.”
Meanwhile, Greg Partington is determined to bring some good out of his mother’s death.
“If we can save just one life, then I will feel unbelievably privileged to have contributed to that."
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