Lonely future for India's elderly

It is lunch time at an home for the elderly in south Delhi.

About 30 people are eating rice, lentils and vegetable stew. All are in their late sixties or older and few seem particularly happy.

There are now more than 500 old people's homes in Delhi alone.

There is little of the camaraderie or banter one sees in such homes in developed countries. Stories like this one from 71-year-old Savitri Saveen might just explain why.

She was put into the home by her daughter.

"She had to go to the US, and she just put us here on the pretext that we would be here for only a couple of months," she explains.

"But they haven't come, so we are just staying here. We are still expecting that they will come."

In earlier days, people lived with their children when they were too old to work, but the urban middle class lifestyle that many people aspire to doesn't leave much room for aged parents these days.

But not everyone here is displeased about being in a home.


Escape

Sitting in the in sun on a pleasant day, a few people - mostly couples - say they prefer the peace and predictability of life in a home to their children¿s' houses.

The man who runs the home, Sri Ram Narang, says many of the people here escaped rather nasty situations among their families.

"All priority is given to money," says Mr Narang.

"If relations demand that elderly people hand over all their money, then they suffer," he explains.

"If they don't give it, they also suffer because they don't get co-operation".

There are exceptions.

In the kitchen of their home in Delhi, university professor Kum Kum Srivastava and her mother, Pushpa Manchandra are cooking lunch.


Joint family

Mrs Manchanda's husband died in 1977 and she moved in with her daughter's family not long after.

This is what is known in India as the joint family - three generations together under the same roof.

But things are changing, as Professor Srivastava points out.

"The joint family is breaking down, and it's the age of nuclear families with both the husband and wife working," she says.

"I think this a child-oriented society, not a parent-oriented one anymore."

Hardly a day goes by in India without a horror story in the press about elderly parents - abandoned or abused.

In one notorious case in Bombay last year, an old couple leapt to their deaths from their 10th floor flat. They had been driven to suicide by their children, squabbling over ownership of the apartment.

India is getting younger, not older. But it has more 60m men and women older than 65, and the problems of the elderly are multiplying.

Activists working for the rights of the old say nothing short of a sea change in public attitudes will begin to make up for their suffering.


Courtesy:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/533436.stm

Air India offers senior citizens 20% off

There is good news for senior citizens. Those in the age group of 65 years and above will get a 20% discount for travel in first and executive classes on Air India's international flights.

The airline had earlier offered a 50% discount to the elderly in the business and economy classes in the domestic sector.

"However, the discount is available only on tickets purchased from Air India reservation offices in India," said the spokesperson. "Applicable on the basic fare of market fares, the offer will be valid for outbound travel commencing on or before March 31, 2010. While the discount is valid on both AI and IC designated international flights, it is not available on code share flights."

According to sources, this is the airline's attempt to get more passenger load as almost all international airlines have been operating below capacity since last year.

An IATA study revealed that, on an average, the airlines were carrying only 73% passenger load. "There is no harm in Air India offering discounts if it helps them get passengers," said a senior aviation expert.

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report_air-india-offers-senior-citizens-20pct-off_1314307

Loss of Taste in the Elderly

Taste helps all of us recognize when food is good or bad. When an elderly person loses taste, it can cause a loss of appetite, weight loss, poor nutrition, weakened immunity, and even death.

Normal taste occurs when molecules released by chewing or the digestion of food stimulate special sensory cells in the mouth and throat. These taste cells, or gustatory cells, send messages through three specialized taste nerves to the brain, where specific tastes are identified. Damage to these nerves following head injury can lead to taste loss.

The taste cells are clustered within the taste buds of the tongue and roof of the mouth, and along the lining of the throat. Many of the small bumps that can be seen on the tip of the tongue contain taste buds. At birth, we have about 10,000 taste buds scattered on the back, side, and tip of the tongue.

After age 50, we may start to lose taste buds. We can experience five basic taste sensations: sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and umami, or savory. Umami was discovered by a Japanese scientist in the early part of the twentieth century. It is the taste of glutamate, a building block of protein found in chicken broth, meat stock, and some cheeses. Umami is the taste associated with MSG (monosodium glutamate) that is often added to foods as a flavor enhancer.

The five taste qualities combine with other oral sensations, such as texture, spiciness, temperature, and aroma to produce what is commonly referred to as flavor. It is flavor that lets us know whether we are eating an apple or a pear. Many people are surprised to learn that we recognize flavors largely through our sense of smell. Try holding your nose while eating chocolate. You will be able to distinguish between its sweetness and bitterness, but you can't identify the chocolate flavor. That's because the distinguishing characteristic of chocolate is largely identified by our sense of smell as aromas are released during chewing.

Food flavor is affected by a head cold or nasal congestion because the aroma of food does not reach the sensory cells that detect odors. A distorted sense of taste can be a serious risk factor for heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and other illnesses that require sticking to a specific diet. When taste is impaired, a person may change his or her eating habits. Some people may eat too little and lose weight, while others may eat too much and gain weight.

Many older people believe that there is nothing they can do about their weakened sense of taste. Depending on the cause of your problem, your doctor may be able to suggest ways to regain your sense of taste or to cope with the loss of taste. In many cases, the loss of taste turns out to be a loss of smell. If you think you have a problem with your sense of taste, see your doctor.

Causes and Prevention of Taste Loss in Elderly Parents :

Problems with taste are caused by anything that interrupts the transfer of taste sensations to the brain, or by conditions that affect the way the brain interprets the sensation of taste. The most common causes of taste disorders are:

• Medications
• Infections
• Head injuries
• Dental problems. Radiation therapy for head and neck cancers
• Mouth dryness
• Heavy smoking
• Vitamin deficiencies
• Bell's palsy, and Sjogren's syndrome.
• Taking medications. Some antibiotics and blood pressure pills can cause a bad taste in the mouth or a loss of taste. Talk to your doctor about it.
• Gum disease. Dentures and inflammation or infections in the mouth caused by taking serveral medications. This causes dry mouth, which can make swallowing and digestion difficult and increase dental problems.

One type of taste disorder is characterized by a persistent bad taste in the mouth, such as a bitter or salty taste. This is called dysgeusia and it occurs in older people, usually because of medications or oral health problems.

The medicines that most frequently cause dysgeusias are drugs to lower cholesterol, antibiotics, blood pressure pills, medications to lower anxiety, and antidepressants. Smokers often report an improved sense of taste after quitting. Sometimes exposure to certain chemicals, such as insecticides and solvents, can impair taste.

Avoid contact with these substances, and if your aging parent does come in contact with them and experience a problem, see your doctor. You can help prevent problems with taste caused by respiratory infections by washing your mom or dad's hands frequently, especially during the winter months. If your eldery parent's taste disorder is made worse by allergies, avoid allergens, such as ragweed, grasses, and pet dander. Also, have your elderly mother or father get a flu shot every year to prevent influenza and other serious respiratory conditions that can result from the flu.

Read about Symtoms and Diagnosis of Taste Loss http://www.agingcare.com/Featured-Stories/135240/Symtoms-and-Diagnosis-of-Taste-Loss.htm


Source: http://www.agingcare.com/Featured-Stories/135240/Loss-of-Taste-in-the-Elderly.htm

Making sure Alzheimer's is Alzheimer's

Cindy and Ron Ferguson have come a long way since his diagnosis with brain cancer 20 years ago.

At that time, doctors gave him just six months to live.

But Ron is still alive and both he and Cindy are dealing with a separate, but debilitating, medical condition.

It's a condition that has made the last 20 years anything but easy, especially after Ron was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and then Parkinson's.

Cindy knew her husband and knew something else was going on so she kept pushing for more tests.

Her main concern was he kept falling down, not something typical of Alzheimer's.

"He could not walk anywhere, lean over, try to sit down without falling," she said.

It turns out that having trouble walking is one of the first and most important signs that separates a condition known as Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus, also known as NPH, from Alzheimer's disease.

Up to 5 percent of patients thought to be suffering from Alzheimer's disease actually have this condition instead. According to Dr. Stewart Levy at Saint Anthony Hospital and Intermountain Neurosurgery and Neuroscience, knowing a patient has NPH, instead of Alzheimer's, can make a huge difference.

He says Alzheimer's is the most common cause for dementia, but it's not the only cause. Since the symptoms are just barely treatable in Alzheimer's disease with medication, it's important to identify any potentially reversible causes of dementia, like NPH.

According to Levy, NPH, if it's not reversible, is at least more treatable.

Treatment involves placing a device, known as a shunt to withdraw some excess fluid surrounding the brain. Once that fluid is drawn off, the patient's symptoms improve.

Sometimes the response is dramatic and doctors can see an immediate and amazing response very soon after the spinal tap is done for diagnostic purposes, and soon after the shunt is placed for treatment.

Sometimes the patient's condition improves in the same day.

For Ron and Cindy, life has improved after Ron's shunt was placed, but Cindy still has words of advice for anyone who suspects their loved one might have something other than Alzheimer's disease.

"There are really important questions that need to be asked when somebody tells you you've got Alzheimer's, or that your loved one has Alzheimer's," she said.

Ron's advice is simple: "Don't give up. Push everything you can, 'cause if you don't, you're just going to go downhill.

Source:

http://www.9news.com/seenon9news/article.aspx?storyid=127277&catid=509

Silver Inning Foundation Programmes pictures 2009

Flickr: Your Photostream

84-year-old Grandmother raped in South Africa

Its just shocking, horrifying , sad !!!!!!! What is this world ? does the person in her silver innings needs this form of abuse , STOP ELDER ABUSE.

Read this horrific ordeal:

“IT was every South African woman’s nightmare,” a shaken, yet defiant, Nelson Mandela Bay grandmother said this week, describing an horrific ordeal during which she was raped and brutalised in her retirement cottage.

In an exclusive interview with Weekend Post, the brave, still badly bruised 84-year-old who survived the terrifying rape and assault only to have to wait in fear after an apprehended suspect escaped from police custody, told of the full horror of the attack saying she needed to talk about it because she did not want to be scared and bitter over what happened to her.

The still disorientated and shaken grandmother, who has made a resolute effort to shake off the “awful” events of the early hours of Friday, October 30, said she wanted to set the record straight, commend the police on their tireless work and thank her family, Life St George’s hospital and the community for their care and support.

“I’m not hiding anything that happened because it will only make me bitter and frightened. I don’t want to hold that inside me,” said the feisty octogenarian.

“I’m talking about how I feel because there is no use in keeping it inside. Each time I talk about (the rape and assault), it becomes a bit easier.”

Sitting in the lounge of her cosy one-bedroomed cottage near Walmer Park Shopping Centre, the former Uitenhage Hospital casualty nurse spoke candidly about the wounds – emotional and physical – her alleged attacker, Frankie Louwskieter, inflicted on her the night of the barbaric attack, the same day as her granddaughter’s birthday.

“This is every South African woman’s nightmare.

“There is no explanation for why he had to rape me,” she said, her head bruised, with purple clots running down her neck, and with other parts of her body still bearing the painful reminder of when crime – South African-style – came visiting.

Asked to recount her emotions on the night of the attack, she said she really thought she was going to die.

“When I came to my senses (about what was happening), I just said to myself, I’m going to do everything he tells me to do. I just shut off and went into survival mode.”

She said the suspect never spoke, but just “communicated by waving his knife”.

The assailant, who gained access to the woman’s home through a window by forcing open the burglar bars, bound and gagged her before stabbing her in the leg. She said he then raped and sodomised her, before locking her in her bedroom, returning a short while later to steal the watch from her wrist.

“It’s a travesty that one person’s evil actions can destroy faith in humanity and it’s sad that it takes something like this to bring people together.”

The mother of three, who has declined to be named, said she was at a loss when it came to the level of violence ingrained in the South African psyche.

She said although she could understand the need to steal to survive, she could not comprehend the level of anger that came with it.

“Why do you need to de-humanise another human being?” she asked. “What does a (alleged) 27-year-old criminal want to do by raping an old woman?”

While asking herself these “unanswerable” questions and dealing with post-traumatic fears, she is set on rebuilding her life. She said thanks to the support of her “absolutely exceptional” family, she felt this was possible.

The victim’s family, including her prominent state advocate grandson-in-law, has been around her 24 hours a day as she first dealt with returning home to the scene of the crime at Winston Churchill Moth Cottages complex, identifying stolen items at the police station and undergoing counselling.

She said she could not yet bring herself to sleep in her bedroom, but that her daughter who lives in the Bay was staying with her.

The victim said after her assailant had left her cottage, she couldn’t find her cellphone which he had taken, and when she got to her land-line she couldn’t remember any numbers. “If there’s one piece of advice I can give, it’s how important it is to remember just one number. The age of cellphones makes us forget how important it is to know people’s numbers.”

After that, adrenalin shot through her and she managed to drag herself outside and alert her neighbours.

Her greatest fear at that moment was that he was coming back to kill her, “finished and klaar”. Now her fear is seeing the suspect again. “I just don’t want to face him.”

Her main priority, apart from recovering and moving past the rape and attack, was making sure the police were commended.

“I don’t think I have the words to say how thankful I am to the police. I don’t want one mistake to blemish their work,” she said, referring to the arrest, escape and recapture of Louwskieter last week.

“One mistake can’t detract from the excellent work the police have done.”

She said Captain Elroy Lindoor and Inspectors Rudolph Baxter and Kelvin Swartbooi all gave up hours of their time – not even returning home to their families – to do forensics, follow leads and track down the suspect.

Even after her horrific ordeal, the victim is more deeply concerned about other victims of South Africa’s “endemic” rape situation.

“I am an old woman who has had a good life, a fabulous husband, fantastic children and grandchildren. I look in the paper and see young people who have been raped and my heart breaks for them because they have their whole lives ahead of them to deal with that.”

Her son, who flew from Australia to be at his mother’s side, was supportive of his mother and in awe of her strength. “She underestimates her resilience,” he said.

The body corporate of Moth cottages has said it will upgrade its security.

Louwskieter, who was refused bail when he appeared in court a week ago on charges of rape, robbery and housebreaking with intent to rob, will appear in court again on Monday.

Source: http://www.theherald.co.za/article.aspx?id=497976

Fact of Old Age in 21st century : The changing Family

A song from Hindi film ‘Baghban’ says, “I am here , you are there, but where is life ?” But, can we experience the emotional pain embodied in this song? No, we can not. Similar emotion is also expressed in another Hindi Film by name ‘Avtar’, starring Rajesh Khanna and Shabana Azmi. There is a lot of similarity between the two films, because it is only when a person is at the altar of old age then only he/she has to face such incidents which no longer are stand-alone incidents but are a series of incidents which one has to face. Helplessness and frustration of individuals is what is depicted in these two films. I am writing this today is because 1^st October is ‘World Elders Day’. This day is celebrated in honour of elders throughout the world. Some time back, well known actress and Member of Parliament, Hema Malini had inaugurated an Old Age Home. She said and hoped that this Old Age Home should remain active and energetic at all times. There was a big issue raised on her statement. But keeping these issues aside, we should think about these elders who have to look to the Old Age Homes for various reasons … One such reason being cruel /abusive behavior of the family members with the elders. We can never understand the deep wounds of the elderly hearts as a result of such behaviors within and by the family members! Let us ask ourselves, ‘What happens to such wounded elder‘. Elders in the family, our parents - when they struggle to bring up their children, their expectation from their children are bound to go up. Is it correct to use the word expectation? No, it is not correct to use the word expectation. It is the children’s duty and moral responsibility to look after the elders; because it is the parents who brought their children up. The mother offers you a glass of water, whether you are coming from school to home or from office to home. It is taken for granted that when Papa comes home from office, he will definitely bring chocolates for his children. This is not only expectation but confidence, in the fact that parents being parents will perform their duties without- anybody having to tell them. Why are we lagging behind to gain the confidence of our elders who are at the altar of their old age? Many times, our children who are apple of our eyes turn out to be counterfeit coins.

Presently, a T-V channel is showing promos of a serial entitled, ‘Basera’. You will also realize the intensity of helplessness of the elders after seeing the serial. Perhaps, you might have seen it. But, in our society, there are organizations helping elders to not only live their lives but also enjoy it. In Mumbai, an organization known as ‘Silver Inning Foundation’ is established for the same purpose. This foundation I like a walking stick for the elders. ‘Silver Inning’ is not an old age ashram, but is an organization which works for the elders. This organization helps elders in difficulty. It may be either at an old age Home or your own home. ‘Silver Inning Foundation’ also helps elders by helping them realize their talents. For instance, they organize a talent show called ‘Umang’ for the elders. The purpose of this show is not competition, but it is a search for talents which elders may not be aware that they possess such talents and also to showcase the talents to the society at large. The attempt is to bring innocent smiles on the face of the elders for a couple of hours or so by making them happier through entertainment. In such programmes, elders are encouraged to present their poems, bring out their hidden talents by presenting laughter shows, mimicry, one act-play, miming, solo song or group song, street play etc. In addition, a ‘Silver Innings celebrity of the month’ for the month is also selected. Persons over the age of 50 participate in such programmes. Fees charged for such programmers are very nominal. Elders experiencing difficult days like summer in their life enjoy the showers of laughter through the medium of ‘Umang’. Different games are organized to entertain and make the elders happy. Elders display their talent in such a way that we realize the fact that they are in no way less enthusiastic than the young. By Participating in ‘Umang’, the elders forget their mental ad physical worries. It is everybody’s privilege to be happy.

Mr. Sailesh Mishra, who is the founder of ‘Silver Inning Foundation’ says, “I belong to the corporate sector. I used to participate in a number of social programmes. During this time, I realized that the Government has a number of programmes for children and women; for the poor and alcoholics, but there were either no or very few programmes for the elderly and as such they were neglected. The elderly were generally neglected unseen and disrespected. I therefore, felt that elders need our as well as government’s attention. There are so many instances that we hear where elders are harassed for small issues or issues relating to even property. Elders should be encouraged to express out their feeling of repression. I am against Old age homes as a policy or as an alternative. The Govt. thinks, by providing old age homes , their responsibility towards elders is over. But this is not a solution.

When we talk about elders, it is not enough to talk only about elders living in elders homes we should also think about elders undergoing lots of difficulties while staying with their own children. Many times elders feel suffocated while staying in their own families. They are beset by illnesses. They need us the most during such periods. Nothing is gained by just erecting four walls for them to stay. I do not intend to blame the youth, because about 50% + of youth in the society is around 25 years of age and also many are Silver Inning members. It must be understood that problems arise due to generation gap. As far as possible we should make all efforts to help the elders. With the assistance of psychiatrists, consultants, counselors, help-lines, seminars and also through education or awareness programmes through schools and colleges, efforts are made so that problems faced by elders are appreciated. Elders, who are suffering from Alzheimer disease or dementia, need timely attention, treatment, our good wishes and love and care. It is true that right from childhood, we want our children to adopt western culture. But when we enter our “Silver Innings”, we expect them to adopt our own culture. This is the real problem. Responsibilities of the parents, understanding of the children, our religion and culture all these are important to understand the nature of the real problem. If all the above factors are understood well and coordinated, then instances of parents separating from their children would be reduced considerably. There are about 90 million elders in our country. We and the Govt., owe a responsibility towards them and we must fulfill this responsibility.

There are some famous poems –which say that even amidst our other problems, we should never forget our father & mother. There is also another story – mythological one – which says that Lord Ganesh instead of going round the earth, selected to go around his parents – Shiva and Parvati. In these instances, there is definitely some meaning which all of us should absorb and we need to think that it does not matter whether we rest in heaven or not. Why can’t our elders sing happily and enjoy to remember their younger days, when they used to struggle to keep their families happy ?

English Translation of article in Gujarati by –Ms. Hetal Bhatt for Aar Par magazine