Opinion: We need to do better as community

It shouldn't be okay, or even possible, for an elderly man to spend three cold days alone on the floor of his camper, Michele Hunter writes. Photo/Gettys

It takes a bit to get my hackles up these days - I think I've spent too long in newsrooms.

But since becoming a mother, there are two types of news that never fail to hit a nerve - heart-wrenching ones about kids and older people.

That's why when I read about a 70-year-old man being stuck between the front seat and foot pedals of his campervan for three days in Paeroa it nearly brought a tear to my well-hardened eye.

The North Island has just experienced some of the coldest weather a lot of us have ever shivered through, and while I was grappling for the heat pump controller and cooking dinner in my puffer jacket - this poor chap was freezing on the floor of his camper.

What bothers me more is that no one knew he was there.

I have no idea who this chap is - or what his personal story is - but surely his tale of woe is a reminder to keep in touch with our elders.

Their bodies are not the agile machines they once were and getting up from a fall is not the insignificant blight on a day that it used to be.

Maybe it's because I'm a mum now that I've got more interested in the need to build a sense of community in our neighbourhoods.

Tauranga is far from the quiet village it was in the 80s, but that doesn't mean our own little pockets of it can't be.

It shouldn't be okay, or even possible, for an elderly man to spend three cold days alone on the floor of his camper.

As a community, we need to do better.