Helping The Elder Citizens. You Can Make Their Golden Years Brighter!

Posted On: 2022-07-26 17:57:35

As per World Health Organization reports, India has 104 million people aged 60 or over, representing 8.6% of the country's total population where females outnumber males (Census 2011). 

Loneliness, depression, financial insecurity, narrowed social life, and health problems; ageing comes with several life problems. Right from childhood to adulthood, the time they become parents to their senior years, older folks' life experiences make them wise and learned. 

However, when they become older, elder individuals encounter situations where they have little choice but to deal with what life throws at them. Elders at home are not respected or their wise advice is misjudged as interfering. They are asked to leave the house while on the other hand, a few of the older ones do not have family or children to take care of them in sickness. 

 

 

Challenges Faced By The Elderly In India

India lacks the fundamental resources and knowledge necessary to promote the health and welfare of our elders. 

• Physical infrastructure is a major barrier to providing elderly people with the comfort they need. When on the streets, wheelchair users have no designated path to follow.
• The nation is ill-equipped to handle the rising prevalence of dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and depression among the elderly. Problems with mental health are rarely discussed.
• The scarcity of public and private financial support for those older people who do not have a family is another major challenge they face.
• Contrary to other developed nations, there is a lack of emergency response infrastructure for senior citizens, including access to public ambulances for hospitalisation. How to go to an emergency facility, if necessary, is one of the top concerns for most elderly people living alone, especially at night.

These are a few problems out of many that the older individuals in India face on a daily basis. Some of them are sick, lonely, unattended, and abandoned too. 

 

Do You Feel Bad About Them? Want To Do Something For Them?

 

 

Swanthanam Old Age Home in Pathanamthitta, Kerala, looks after 63 elderly women who don't have a home, family, or place to stay. The ages of these participants range from 45 to 98. The old age home relies on donations from numerous people, which makes management challenging for the proprietors.

Members of this old age home were either forced to leave their own houses or were left there because they had no one to look after. They only have this old age home that they can call their own. Out of the total, 23 of its members are currently bedridden because of serious illnesses. Since they are unable to move on their own, the staff must feed and clean them. 

 

 

Since they are unable to help themselves, these members must wear adult diapers all day. 70 adult diapers are needed each day for these 23 people who are bedridden. It is difficult for the proprietors to manage all the costs of upkeep, medications, staff salaries, and other expenses because the old age home runs solely on contributions.

They urgently require money to cover the expense of adult diapers, which is:

They require 26,000 adult diapers each year, which may rise in the future given the current daily requirement. This will cost Rs. 7,20,000/- (Rupees Seven Lakhs Twenty Thousand Only) per year based on wholesale costs.

The caretaker at the old age home has initiated a fundraising campaign on Filaantro. The sum of money required to afford the required number of adult diapers every day is huge and they need your help with it. While stating the situation at the old age home the caretaker said:

“I am here all the time looking after the needs and requirements of the senior citizens. There are times when I cannot even look at the mental and physical state they are in. They break down so many times because of the void that they have no family. We are their only family and we have to take care of them in their declining years. I need your support so that my members can spend the final years of their life in comfort. Please help!”

With your generous donations, senior citizens at the Swanthanam Old Age Home will have a better life spending their lonely, golden years. Together we need to show them that they are not alone; we care for them like a family and we are here for them.

Show your love and support for the Swanthanam Old Age Home at:

https://filaantro.org/fundraiser/view/help-old-age

Author: Anjali Patel