There's an old lady who walks her little old corgi dog around here.

I have spoken to her on the odd occasion, but had a longer interaction with her outside the post office today. I think she is struggling with memory and cognition.

She showed myself and another person in the queue a letter from her bank that was quite concerning. She had no idea what it meant. She had no idea that the post office couldn't help her with it. She was less worried than perhaps she should have been. We (without panicking her) directed her to call her bank at once.

The interaction made me aware of how few safety nets our society has. How did we get to a situation where random people in the post office queue are a lifeline for that lady?