Caring For Elderly

CARING FOR ELDERLY

Everyone has already heard of the infamous quote , " We often forget that while we are growing up , our parents our growing old too." , but still choose to ignore it. In a country like India , also known as the 'ageing India' , where anyone above sixty or sixty-five is considered to be elderly , which consumes 54.77% of the population , out of which 70% are economically dependent and only 31% reside in urban areas being able to avail good quality facilities ; shockingly has minimum to no services for elderly health care. This can be blamed on the fact that Asian culture extensively emphasises on the moral tradition of bestowing all responsibility on the young children , specially sons , to take care of their aged parents or relatives. Because of this scenario , the aspiring ambitious and busy youngsters often neglect , sometimes unintentionally , the declining health of the old. And , the senile family members too guilty and ignored to take a stand , quietly suffer in misery and abandonment as many of them are ashamed of their poor financial funds and social inactiveness. There are a very few large-scale multipurpose ventures who offer health support to elderly , but are only money-pinchers , cheating people out of their finances. A lot of pressure is already weighed down upon the poor pension policies and retirement schemes , making it next to impossible for the aged and their families to afford the services. To promote better healthcare facilities for the elderly , the society and communities at large should take a step forward , widening their horizons , and take the initiative to establish a small-scale nursing home with excellent services by the nurses , proper hygiene , good sanitation and food , and everything else from dressing to diets , and from pills to weekly check ups by a qualified doctor and trained personnel. A foundation or trust instituition or Cooperative daycare centres for elderly should also be opened , so that citizens can avail good qualitiy services at a low cost. Daycare and NIghtcare nurses should be set up for hire , to build a stress-free , sterile and healthy environment for the aged in the comfort of their own homes. These small steps will only help improve the life-expectancy of people and give the country's medical tourism a boost. This will also help the society and community to stay disease-free , healthy and positive. Keeping these points aside , friends and family should pay a little attention to them , and not rely on the caretakers completely. Love, support and encouragement go a long way in both mental as well as physical well-being, making them lively and active. Regulated diets and exercise is another important point , which is largely underestimated.
Caring for the elderly should no longer be the responsibility of the immediate family alone, but has to be a responsibility and pledge of governments, non governmental organizations as well as private institutions.