Regard Social Needs of Rural Seniors

An American Medical Association paper documents how older adults living in rural communities are at extra risk of social isolation. Buildings are often on large plots of land separated from each other, walking paths may be dirt or in need of repair, and public transit is frequently sparse. Although rural seniors report larger social networks than do urban seniors, the rural seniors can have greater difficulty visiting with their friends.
     The isolation generates health risks, says the AMA. Country cousins have higher illness and death rates than do city and suburban cousins. Rates of psychological maladies, up to and including suicide, are elevated. The physical and mental difficulties are attributable in part to rural communities having lower net income, educational opportunities, and density of helping professionals. Still, these are interrelated with the social isolation.
     At the same time, the results of the elevated isolation generate for retailers ongoing opportunities to augment their offerings in ways which benefit both these consumers and an organization’s bottom line. Infuse sales, provision, and repair services with socializing.
     The schmoozing should be more than idle chatter. It should be addressed toward understanding problems presented by the shopper and then helping to resolve those problems. Some problems are strictly logistical, such as, in a store, trouble reading labels in small print, fetching an item that’s out of reach, or getting a small enough size of the item. When visiting the senior’s home for installation or repairs, assess what frustrations they’re experiencing which you can ease with further instructions or with workarounds. What workarounds has the senior devised which you could suggest to others in a similar situation?
     Other problems facing the shopper, and by extension the retailer, might require sustained effort and referrals in order to remedy. As you’d do with all other customers, hand off the rural senior using care and caring. Follow up with an inquiry to check that the issue has been resolved.
     A related way in which retailers can address the problems of rural seniors’ social isolation is to monitor for difficulties and take action. This might be warning the senior’s family members, reporting to social service or health care agencies with the permission of the senior, or simply urging the senior to seek help. The AMA paper instructs physicians to monitor for the problems, but recognizes how contact with local retailers is more frequent. We are all best when in this together.

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