Help Age India (Shimla)

Age Care Himachal Pradesh

HelpAge India – A Social Partner in HP

It is people’s participation harnessed for the cause of the elderly. From being a parrtner in social needs in progressive Himachal Pradesh to partnering and initiating steps for the elder population of the state, HelpAge India – with a mission to ensure` improved qaulity of life for the older people’ – has been able to traverse the whole gamut of Agecare.

HelpAge India has made its presence felt in the region, ofetn, by playing as little but significant a role of a coordinator between the government agencies and social participants. For, the style of HelpAge India incorporates self-relience and self-sustenance amont the masses and its NGO partners.

Himachal Pradesh and its elderly issues

With almost 10 per cent or 548,000 of its popluation above the age of 60, Himachal Pradesh has the garantuan task of ensuring their well being. What complicates matters is that Himachal is a hilly state. Trying terrains make reaching out to the elderly is almost always a challenge. To add to this, joblessness is driving Himachal’s youth to greener pastures in nearby states like Punjab, Haryana and Delhi, incarcerating the hapless elderly back home. This has necessitated community care for them.

The state, like othes in the country, is not insulated from social excesses. Traditional norms and social values are breaking down and joint family norms are disintegarting. This has resulted in the neglect of a large number of aged parents.

Further, although a socially responsible and progressive state, Himachal Pradesh lacks a state policy for the elderly.

The HelpAge India participation

HelpAge India’s mandate demonstrates devotion in fulfilling the needs of about 10 million elderly in the country. This sizeable chunk of India’s population dosen’t only encounter the rigors of advanced age but also apathy of the society. HelpAge India helps ensure the right to a secure and dignified life for them.

HelpAge India understants that the woes of the elderly are:

1.Failing health, 2. Financial insecurity, 3. Isolation, 4. Neglect, 5. Abuse, 6. Fear, 7. Lack of work or vocation, 8. Deteriorating self-esteem, 9. Loss of control, be it in the family or outside, 10.Lack of preparedeness for old age,11. Discrimination , owing to social norms, age or otherwise.

Himachal Pradesh & HelpAge India

Although the plight of the elderly in Himachal Pradesh is marginally better owing to an overall better economic condition and better administrative focus, much needs to be done, because:

1) It’s a hard life in the hills

2) Disintegrated family means lack of domestic support

3) Manifeatation of terrain-related diseases, lilke those related to the bones and joints.

HelpAge India’s services and activities primarily focus on these issues in Himachal Pradesh.

The HelpAge India Programmes

General: HelpAge India plays a active role in alleviating the condition of the elderly in seven – Shimla, Sirmour, Solan, Kangra, Bilaspur, Mandi and Kullu – of the 12 districts in the state.

Elder’s Helpline 1800-180-1253: The all- Himachal toll-free telephonic helpline run from Shimla functions as a facility to inform and rush helathcare to the elderly. Added to the services are:

Ø A tie-up with Shimla ambulance service providers in Shimla

Ø Special concessions like Senior Citizen Discount Cards at chemists and general stores and discounts at private hospitals, for senior citizens

Ø Elder-to elder consultation in collaboration with HP Pensioners Association and HP Senior Citizens Forum.

Ø Counselling in cases related to property, inheritance,abuse, neglect etc.

Ø Bridge between departments like Social Justice and Empowerment and Ministry of Health closer to the elderly.

Physiotherapy Programme: A relatively new concept in Agecare for HelpAge India, the physiotherapy projects demonstrate how direct contact with the elderly goes a long way in easing physical manifestations associated with old age.

Because of the terrain and physical work in the Himachal Pradesh, elderly are prone to bone related diseases like arthritis, gout and weakening knees. Physical disability is associated with the will and confidence of a person. HelpAge India’s physiotherapy activities are the prop in elderly healthcare here, as they not only rehabilitate a senior citizen but also motivate him/her to lead an independent and worthy life.

It is perhaps this reason that the HelpAge India centres in Shimla’s Vikasnagar , Kullu and Solan are so popular that there is a crying demand for more. These centres treat about 60-80 elderly on a daily basis and the traffic is growing.

The Physiotehrapy centres established by HelpAge India are examples of another of its primary belief – care for the elderly is best done by the community. At the three centres, HelpAge India’s doctors are not only treating the elderly but also functioning as community trainers, identifying and training care givers with the community of Agecare.

The Physiotherapy centre at Vikasnagar is being runned and managed by SCAs of the community.Such exercises not only help establish a second-line in the realm of Agecare.

Sponsor-A-Grandparent Programme or SaGP : Operational in all the seven districts of HelpAge India network in the state, the Rs 61 lakh plus SaGP helps provide basic needs like fooding, clothing, medicines and housing for the destitute – those who do not have anyone to take care of them abandoned by their immediate family – amont the elderly.

Ø To ensure a spreading outreach, 13 NGOs have been roped in as partners.

Ø Income generation programmes of Rs 600 per month per beneficiary also implemented.

Ø Under SaGP programme, HelpAge India is also actively promoting the HP Government old age pension scheme by helping the elders in submission of pension claims.

Ambulance services for the elders: HelpAge India has helpled augment mobile emergency facility in Shimla and adjoining areas by providing a specialised ambulance(a fully equipped Maruti van ) for the elderly.

Medical Eldercare Unit : HelpAge India, in partnership with the central Department of Science and Technology, has put on the state roads a mobile diagnostic unit that covers Basantpur, Gumma, Sunni(adjoining Mandi dsitrict), Mashobra and urban Vikasnagar. The mobile unit or medical eldercare unit (MEU) has the facility for blood/urine tests and physiotherapy unit for the elderly, with the purpose of:

Ø Social mobilization for the cause of the elderly.

Ø Preventive and curative healthcare.

Ø Counselling the elderly.

Ø Impart information amont the target group on state policies, programmes and schemes for them.

Cancer awareness and treatment programme: According to Himachal government estimate, there are over 100 new cancer cases every year in the state because of which the number of patients treated at the regional cancer centre’s has gone up from 708 in 1996 to 1,614 at present. Almost half of such cases belong to the 50+ age category.

It has also been found that as mush as 80 per cent of the cancer cases were at a very advanced stage reducing chance of cure. It has been established that the most prevalent form pf cancer in Himachal is cancer of the cervix among women and commonest malignancy affecting the males is cancer in lungs.

Given the grim data, the state has a need of as many cancer screening centres and awareness campaigns as it can muster. For this purpose, HelpAge India, along with Himachal Pradesh Voluntary Health Association and Shimla-based Indira Gandhi Government Medical College at (IGGMC), holds camps and awareness drives. HelpAge India attempts to reach out to the rural population – panchayat meetings are regularly held to focus on the disease and cancer screening camps sensitise the people.

Income Generation Programme : For the rural veteran, often, his very ability to survive is challenged, impoverished, penniless and abandoned that he is. HelpAge India, with eight NGO partners, has been able to provide succor to these elderly destitute by providing them capital and equipment aid for cattle rearing, daily operations, day-care centres, etc. The income generation programme is for about Rs 16.8 lakh.

Ophthalmic Programme: The Rs 20 lakh programme cover includes apart from Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. The programme facilitates eyecare for the elderly in partnership with local hospitals.

HelpAge India has come a full circle in Himachal Pradesh, as far as caring for the elderly is concerned. It has pioneered some causes and participated in others to ensure better quality of life. There’s more waiting to be done, more districts to be brought within its fold, more ground to be broken in Agecare. HelpAge India awaits the opportunity.