Medical services at doorstep

Wednesday, August 28, 2002 The Times of India, Bangalore

Asha Jeevan Home for the Aged Trust will soon start medical services at the s\doorstep of the elderly in Bangalore. This is claimed to be the only senior citizens' home which caters to needs of the bedridden.

Asha Jeevan, started be Sujatha Bhat and Kalpana Mallya in March 2000, is also unique because it trains and places unemployed boys and girls from poor families to help the elderly on a 24-hour basis. The home has trained 242 such youth to date.

According to Sujatha, the house presently has 32 men and women, some of whom are destitutes. The inmates suffer from osteoporosis, arthritis, dementia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson and stroke. The inmates of Asha Jeevan are accommodated in three homes on Bannerghatta Road.

"We are presently looking for an acre of land to construct our own premises for geriatric purpose with wheel chair-friendly ramps," says Sujatha. When she organizes awareness programmes on health-related geriatric problems of senior citizens at different venues, the members of the audience included mostly inmates from the home, who ironically suffer from the particular problem being discussed. These programmes are held by eminent specialists in their respective fields. Asha Jeevan provides at their homes, the values of homeliness, cleanliness and calm atmosphere that is so essential to people during the sunset years of their life. A vegetarian food with balanced and nutritious diet is provided to the residents, who are accompanied by their nurses round the clock. The home is attached to Shanthi Nursing Home, which offers ambulance and paramedical staff for the emergency needs of the inmates. "When we visit various old age homes that have sprung up in the city and the way the aged inmates are ill treated, we feel depressed," say Sujatha and Kalpana. For details call 9845184079.