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You Are Here : Home > Social Protection & Aged Care > Shelter / Old Age Homes |
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Introduction |
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Shelter is defined as a place where a person is provided protection and care.
It is a kind of social security provided by the State or Society to the vulnerable groups of people, the elderly, the sick, the disabled and such others. Of these, the elderly represent a large and growing group. The vulnerability increases with age and they become more and more dependant on their people. The number of this group will gradually grow and the demand for social security in the form of Old Age Homes (OAHs) will increase and eventually it will become increasingly heavy and may become unbearable. How to tackle this problem is the question before the policy makers and social security administrators. Experts have pointed out that although family care is the best form of geriatric care, and institutional care should be discouraged as far as possible, there is a however a need for more OAHs in India and greater efforts are needed to improve the working of the Old Age Homes which are run by the govt, Individuals, NGOs, Trustees and other Voluntary Organizations. The National Policy On Older Persons has recognized this need. The Policy is to give assistance to voluntary organizations or NGOs by way grants in aid for construction and maintenance of old age homes. Those for the poor will be heavily subsidized.
The government also proposes to encourage and assist voluntary organizations “to organize services such as day care, multi services citizens, reach out services, supply of disability related aids and appliances, assistance to older persons to learn to use them, short term stay services, and friendly home visits by social workers. ”Several voluntary organizations have come up to provide these services, but their performance cannot be said to be wholly satisfactory because of their service delivery and financial conditions.
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HelpAge India’s Intervention towards Shelter |
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HelpAge India has adopted a two pronged approach towards shelter. Firstly it provides support to the existing shelters and old age homes by way of technical support and by providing part or whole funding to NGOs for building or upgrading the structures. HelpAge has provided support to 253 Old Age Homes and 135 Day Care Centres. The second approach is to build Old Age Homes for the disadvantaged elderly. HelpAge India is building an OAH at Cuddalore (Near Pondichery), Tamil Nadu, which is nearing completion. It has a capacity of 100 beds. It is known as “Tamaraikulam Elders Village”, total area of this elder village is 5.4+ acres.
HelpAge India has recently (June-‘07) conducted a rapid survey of 12 OAHs of Delhi and NCR to identify the gaps in their overall functioning.
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Summary of key findings of the survey |
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Ownership of Homes: Most homes are established and run by Trusts or Societies. Others are established and run by Philanthropic families. Out of 12 homes surveyed, 10 are run by Trusts and 2 by families. |
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Building and infrastructure: Homes run by families were in a better condition then those run by Trusts or Societies. |
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Financial commitments: Both Trusts/Societies or families have mobilized funds for capital expenditure to establish the homes with basic infrastructure and facilities. However, running expenses (including salary of staff) is posing the biggest problem in providing minimum standard of care in their respective socio-economic context. |
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Running cost: In most of the homes surveyed, the cost of food is tied to donation in cash or kind from the external sources. This source of funding seems to be part sustainable as in most cases food has been provided to beneficiaries from the time they entered the home. However, in the case of all homes, a serious problem faced is with regard to payment of staff salaries. |
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Quality of staff and services provided: 90% of the staff employed are un-trained and are competent to provide only minimal services based on their experience to the beneficiaries. Need of trained and competent and experience staff will itself enhance standard of services provided within these homes without additional financial assessment or infrastructure and equipment. |
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Selection of beneficiary: This varies from home to home, in most cases beneficiaries are identified through a personal network of Trusts/Societies members, who are also community leaders. Thus while there is potential for the home to provide service to a larger number of elders in the community financial constraints is the single biggest factor for lack of out reach of service to elders in the community who are not residence of the home. |
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Recreation and emotional care: For residents of any home, after meeting basic necessities of food and shelter, recreation and emotional care are necessary to ensure minimal standard for quality of life. Due to paucity of funds this is the most neglected area in the entire lot of homes surveyed. The limited resources available are used primarily for food and staff salary. |
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Health Care: Only two homes, within the campus have a resident doctor, all the remaining have a facility for “doctor on call”. Overall health care in terms of regular care is poor in all cases. |
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Age friendly building and infrastructure: Though most homes are modest and well suited to local conditions however, they were necessarily designed keeping in mind age friendly standards. Simple fixtures and medications such as grab rails, non-skid tiles, chairs for sitting/seating arrangements etc. will greatly enhance self-confidence of beneficiary. |
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Physical well being for beneficiaries: 6 old age homes provide daily regular Yoga, Spiritual meetings (Satsangs). The remaining homes surveyed do not provide any such activities.
HelpAge India proposes to introduce new support packages to minimize the gaps identified in the OAHs covered in the survey. |
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