Udhavi – A volunteer group that provides companionship services to elders in their area was covered by the Hindu last week. Excerpts below.

Their children have flown the nest. They have to take care of themselves. Needless to say, they feel lonely.

Sabita Radhakrishna has founded a voluntary organisation, Udhavi, for such seniors.

These days, aged parents either prefer to live by themselves or need someone to take care of them, even if they live with their children,” says Sabita.

Udhavi sends its volunteers to seniors to provide them companionship or to render some help. They spend quality time with the aged, taking them out for walks or any events, chat with them, read books to them, play indoor games with them, write letters or run errands for them.

For seniors to make use of the services of Udhavi, they have to register with the organisation and also produce a consent letter from their children.

“We train our volunteers to be patient and be prepared to repeat any chore the seniors tell. They are instructed to keep from giving any medical advice, prying into the personal affairs of the aged, discussing financial matters and giving any unsolicited advice. The volunteers are not supposed to give any food or refreshments,” she adds.

“Udhavi is still a fledgling organisation and we seek advice and help from Dignity Foundation whenever required,” says Sabita.

To read more, click here. (  https://www.thehindu.com/features/downtown/making-them-feel-on-top-of-the-world/article6323907.ece)

On Google, there is a facility by which you can set “Alerts” on specific keywords and phrases. Whenever a new article, or web page  with the specified words is added/created, Google sends you a mail with the link to the relevant page.

At Old is Gold Store, since we are interested in all matters relating to Senior Citizens, we have an alert set up for the phrase “Senior Citizen”.   Everyday we get alerts with 10 – 15 links to articles relating to senior citizens out of which 80% are from outside India and 20% are from India.

The articles from other countries are all almost always positive articles.  However, 99% of the articles from within India relate to violence and theft perpetrated on senior citizens.

Why are we not having more positive news relating to senior citizens in India?

Request our readers to share with us pleasant news relating to senior citizens please.

Rupali Mukherjee, TNN | Jun 9, 2014, 07.24AM IST. From the Times of India.

MUMBAI: Healthcare will now be made available right at your door step. Thanks to start-ups who are using disruptive technologies to pioneer a home-based medical care model to address healthcare needs at the comfort of homes, shifting from the traditional hospital-centric delivery platform. Companies have now evolved to provide not only basic healthcare, but also speciality care to those suffering with chronic diseases, and to a largely untapped elderly population at their homes.

Fuelled by the growing burden of chronic diseases in the country, rising demand for elderly care and post-surgery rehab services, companies like Portea Medical, Healthcare at Home, Medwell and India Home Health Care are focusing on a home-based healthcare delivery platform, by providing home visits from doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, and offer post-operative, palliative and ICU care.

Home healthcare, an established model in the US is pegged around $80 billion, while in India it is at a nascent stage, estimated around $3 billion, and growing rapidly. Globally, geriatric care accounts for 70% of home healthcare visits.

The potential for the business is huge given the rise in NRIs, nuclear families, an ageing population and those who are working away from home. The demographic target for these start-ups is thus wide, anyone suffering from a chronic disease or even with a basic healthcare issue, in the age group of 45 to 80 years, and older.

“We estimate that roughly 80% of the care that is currently given in the hospital can be delivered in the home setting, with the proper use of technology. Our biggest segments are geriatric care (elder care) and post-operative care (after hospital procedure care). Besides, we are evaluating to bring in personalized medical devices/wearables to India for personalized monitoring of patients at home”, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Portea Medical, K Ganesh told TOI.

The rates charged by these companies range from a single everyday service to long-term care packages, and prices vary between geographies and severity of the disease. The charges are anywhere from Rs 500 a visit for a small service like an injection administration or a wound dressing, Rs 700 – 1000 for a doctor visit, Rs 450 – 650 for a physiotherapist visit, to setting an ICU at home for Rs 7,500 a day which is almost 50% cost effective than the same service being charged in a corporate hospital, the firms claim. Certain firms like Portea and Medwell offer annual subscription packages of Rs 12,000-15,000 too.

Recently, others like CauseforSmile have come up to address the biggest worries of NRIs concerning parents — health, fitness, recreation, as well as social aspects.

Though Portea is focussing on mainly basic healthcare needs, others like Medwell Ventures and Burman family-promoted Health Care at Home will provide speciality home care to patients suffering from chronic ailments.

“Our focus is on providing home health for patients with chronic diseases, and thus supporting the continuum of care to those who generally have very high re-admission rates into hospitals. Some of these patients have ailments like heart failure, COPD, chronic arthritis, post operative surgical site wound management for chronic diabetic patients”, Vishal Bali chairman and co-founder Medwell Ventures said.

There is a huge potential for these kind services, experts say. “But the kind of model, market segment and quality of care on offer would be key to be successful in this space”, says Ajit Mahadevan leader life sciences at Ernst & Young.

Increasingly, mobile telephony, internet and telemedicine is paving the way for innovative treatment and healthcare models, but a majority of the population residing in towns and remote villages, does not have access to even basic medical care in the country.

What these start-ups seem to betting on is the abysmal doctor-patient ratio and low hospital bed density in the country. Besides, “by treating patients at their homes, hospitals can lower costs and become more efficient, and patients also benefit from better health outcomes because they are not exposed to hospital-borne infections”, says Zachary Jones, co-founder Portea Medical said.

For the full article go here.

(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Startups-bring-the-doctor-and-hospital-home/articleshow/36274016.cms)

The two sisters came in looking for something for their dad. From their conversation with each other, one could make out that their dad was not keeping well, was stubborn and inflexible (like some seniors who have been fiercely independent all their lives are wont to be), but still very much loved.

The sisters, one resident and the other visiting, were carrying on a banter about the dad’s shenangans with a subtext of indulgent smiles, crinkled noses, shrugs and sighs. One could see that despite the obvious love and affection they had for their dad, their nerves were frayed and their patience was wearing thin.

As they were browsing, Mr. S came in. Mr. S is 70+ and an old customer. He had not visited since his mother had passed away a few months back. He looked a little thinner and a bit more harried. I enquired politely about how life was treating him. A casual question, but it must have been the key to the flood gates, for there was such an outpouring for the next few minutes.

Apparently, he had had a mild heart attack and had undergone an angioplasty since he last met us and was just recovering. As though that was not sufficiently taxing, his father-in-law had moved in with him as he had been recently diagnosed with some malignant form of cancer. The F-i-l was apparently largely confined to bed now and needed constant looking after – the usual diaper change and feed and all the other help in taking care of his daily living – not to mention sleepless nights and visits to the doctor involving interminable waiting times. Poor Mr. S, not only did he have to take care of himself, he had an even older man to look after. No wonder he looked harried. I could not do much more than mumble some inane platitudes about keeping up the spirit and how things will work out well in the end and so on. He sighed, bought some diapers for his father-in-law and left.

The two ladies who had fallen silent in Mr. S’s presence seemed to come out of a trance. “Wow! We are in a much better state than that poor man. We have no right to complain”, they said and left the store in a much better frame of mind.

I only hope they remind themselves of this every time things get more difficult. As for Mr. S, I can only wish him good health and the strength to endure and survive this trial too.

A Workshop on Retirement Communities sponsored by Harmony Eldercare Pvt. Ltd.  & Satvik Properties LLC was conducted by Old is Gold Store- a store for Senior Citizens on 8th of May 2014,  specifically for senior citizens to create more awareness about retirement communities, their pros and cons, and other associated topics.

While retirement communities are not new to developed nations, they are a relatively new concept to India. As a result neither the promoters nor the potential purchasers are aware of actually what support and services a retirement home should provide. This workshop was designed to dispel some of the myths and provide clear information on how to evaluate a retirement community.

The workshop held at Raga Sudha Hall, Mylapore was well attended with over 130 senior citizens turning up for the 3 hour workshop on a cloudy, pleasant afternoon. The workshop was kicked off by a welcome address by Jayashree KP, Director of Old is Gold Store.

This was followed by an introductory talk on retirement communities by Sanjay Dattatri, Director – Old is Gold Store. The participants were also given a copy of a detailed retirement community evaluation form for the use of senior citizens interested in moving into a retirement community. More copies of the evaluation form are available at Old is Gold Store.

The third session was a lively presentation on the benefits of reverse mortgage. Many senior citizens who has unsuccessfully tried applying for reverse mortgage demanded answers from Mr. B Prabhu, Deputy Manager of National Housing Bank who patiently answered all the questions and cleared many doubts. Of the many important points that Mr. Prabhu touched upon, one of the most important was about which banks to approach. Mr. Prabhu highlighted the fact that only Zonal offices have managers dedicated to reverse mortgage and for best results people should approach the zonal branches of nationalized banks (or branches with a Chief Manager or above).

Ms. Sabita Radhakrishna then addressed the audience and explained about Udhavi, the volunteer group that aims to provide companionship and support to senior citizens.

Finally, after a sumptuous snack break, the audience participated very vocally in the panel discussion and open house that was moderated by actor and TV presenter Ms. Shylaja Chetlur. The panelist, Raj Sitaraman, Director Marketing of Harmony eldercare, Mr. Hari S of Satvik Property Services, Mr. Prabhu of NHB and Sanjay Dattatri and KP Jayashree from Old is Gold Store, answered various questions posed by the audience.

The meeting ended with a vote of thanks.