Elderly and Senior Citizens are valued and precious members of the community, society and the nation. Behind those grey hairs and experienced eyes lies a wealth of sagacity, insight and hard work. They have devoted their entire life to supporting their family, educating their children, providing them livelihood, and contributing to the welfare of society. In the twilight years of their life, they need the same support, love, empathy and compassion and deserve dignity, grace and respect from their family and the community. Due to physical infirmity, health problems, anxiety, loneliness and a feeling of being left out, the elderlies need special care with tender love and devotion.
Asha’s Geriatric Care programme includes medical care like treatment for mental and physical problems, including depression, anxiety, recent falls, joint pain, and hearing and vision problems. Asha provides referrals to specialists, medicines, vitamins, glasses and hearing aids, taking care of elderly abuse and enlisting them for Government welfare schemes.
To strengthen its Geriatric Care, Asha has embarked on a beautiful and touching programme to pay respect and shower generous love, care and compassion to these important but often neglected members of society.
Each elderly member of the community is paired with an Asha Children’s Group member and a student ambassador in their respective communities. They are responsible for taking loving care of the elderly. Every morning, they go to their house and greet them with warmth and love and help them with their daily chores and engage in friendly talks. They tenderly wash their feet, comb their hair, wash their clothes and clean the house.
After that, they accompany the elderly to the Asha centre, where they are warmly greeted and welcomed. The centre becomes a forum where the elderlies meet and discuss their life’s happiness, pain, challenges or any other issue affecting them. They also sing, dance, recite poems and express themselves without barriers.
After this session, the Asha team provides them with freshly prepared, hot, nutritious meals with tender love and warmth. Before the meal, there is a prayer led by the Asha Team Leader to invoke God’s blessings. After the prayer, everyone enjoys the meal together. After the meal, they are accompanied to the washing area, and the Asha team helps them to wash their hands and clean their utensils. Special care is taken to ensure that the entire environment is filled with enjoyment, joy, love and spontaneity. In the end, the elderly members are given a warm send-off with a sweet hug accosted by an Asha team member at their house. This gesture of love, care and affection fill their heart, and they look forward to this interaction every day with much eagerness and expectation as it helps them to remove their loneliness.
This noble initiative by Asha provides a platform for the elderlies to create a space to express themselves and for the Asha team to show gratitude and respect to the community’s senior members.
