Not there

I called in to see the elderly woman I visit on Mondays and Thursdays. The blinds were down and there was no answer at the door. I therefore let myself in wondering if I would find her on the floor. She was not there.
As she had not been well on Monday I was not as concerned as I would otherwise have been. Inquiries soon showed she was in hospital. Her daughter was supposed to inform me but she has epilepsy and, while she thought she had, she had also had a seizure and had forgotten to do so.
There are too many elderly people living alone in this area. Their children tend to live interstate or overseas. The mobile work population means that they are scattered. Some are not interested in their elderly parent or parents but others are in regular contact. Even regular contact however is not the same as being here and available to take a parent to the doctor, obtain a prescription, fix something around the house and so on. It is a problem that government, particularly local government, has not yet really come to grips with.