Sandhya Kirana - Destitute Home for Elderly Men

Bengaluru is one of the fastest-growing metropolia. This city has seen unprecedented developments that have affected several segments of society particularly the senior citizens. It's estimated, today, Bengaluru has over 1.23 crore population of which 10 lakh are elders. A survey done by an NGO in 2010 stated that Bangalore had around 17,000 homeless people. It can be assumed that many of them are elderly. Although there are several homes for elders in Bangalore, very few homes come forward to rehabilitate destitute elders. The Covid pandemic has further stigmatized the homeless elderly. They are seen as a source of infection and rehabilitation efforts are further neglected

Nightingales Medical Trust has established a home for destitute elderly women in 2018. More than 60 elders are being provided with good health care and shelter at the home. During the pandemic, we admitted more than 20 elderly women at this home. The Trust has been receiving repeated requests to provide care to elderly men. There were very few homes which provided good quality care for destitute elderly men. In order to address this growing need, the Trust has a small home for elderly men at Bengaluru in December 2020. The home is started in an existing day-care centre facility run by the Trust. This facility can house around 25 elderly men. We have admitted 2 elders at the home and look forward to admitting more elderly men in the coming days. The proposed services at this home include transit care for lost elderly men with Counseling and reconciliation with families (in association with Elders Helpline). Residential care services with the following :

• Nutritious meals
• Basic health care
• Deaddiction services
• Livelihood opportunities like making paper covers, small handicrafts etc.
• Fitness programmes like yoga, guided exercises to improve fitness.
• Recreational activities
• End of life care

The long term stay and transit care facility aim to help up to 50 elders annually. For the abandoned elderly men, the home will provide a new lease of life. With good nutrition, livelihood opportunities, social engagement and quality health treatment, elders will recover and will steadily enjoy better health. The talents of the elders would be utilized to run the day to day activities of the centre and would help to create belongingness and a sense of dignity.