Heartwarming care

One of the more difficult issues to deal with as one grows old is loneliness. Long after the “empty nest syndrome” is dealt with by parents, when children leave home in search of careers or for making their life independently, the sense of isolation, helplessness and dependence that the elderly face is a painful phase of life. The situation gets worse if one is plagued by ill-health.

Convalescence is a crucial period of the recovery process from an injury, illness or a surgery, requiring intensive nursing care and constant monitoring of the patient’s health parameters.

Comfortable care
Given their lack of strength, impaired mobility, and special dietary requirements, the elderly need more than a vigilant offspring or domestic help to aid their recovery. Vaishnavi Medicare Trust in Bengaluru offers just this by bridging the gap between a serious illness or hospitalisation of the elderly and their complete recovery by taking care of them throughout their convalescence with specialised medical and nursing care in an ambience that aids speedy recovery.

The Trust itself was born out of such a lacuna, when Manjula Sridhar could not find professional help for her ailing husband. This experience led her to set up the convalescence home in 2008. They provide homecare help for patients and even tend to the terminally ill.

Hygienic environs, home-cooked food, and personalised attention and care make it a home away from home.

The convalescence home is a full-fledged hospital sans expensive charges. The care given is akin to an ICU in a medical centre, with ventilator, oxygen and suction facilities, doctor on call, nurses, and ward staff. The Trust has its own ambulance, which helps in taking
patients for dialysis, post-operative check-up to the hospital, and for medical emergencies.

“We provide service 24/7. The patients here are my family; my deep sense of satisfaction is when they get well and return home, having been comfortable in our care, and when we are able to imbue a sense of dignity to the dying,” says Manjula.

The Trust has two centres, both of which are in Bengaluru. Manjula can be seen to be accompanying the patients to hospitals during emergencies, and supervising the working of the two homes throughout the day.

The elderly today are respected only if they can fulfil certain duties for their children such as taking care of grandchildren, cooking, or being vigilant caretakers at home when couples go out to work. Else, they are neglected or ill-treated, which is a common story — a reality buttressed by the mushrooming of old age homes.

Changing lifestyles, sizeable incomes, highly individualistic attitudes, lack of tolerance, and a waning respect for the elderly as carriers of wisdom by virtue of their experience have led to the rise of nuclear families. The change looks irreversible with “senior citizen homes” becoming a euphemism for old age homes.

In this scenario, organisations such as Vaishnavi Trust offer hope and a life of dignity for the aged, who do not have to count their days but instead spend it peacefully. The Trust has also taken in patients who could not afford care.

With limited post-operative care being offered by nursing homes and hospitals, a convalescent home like Vaishnavi Medicare Trust is perhaps a blessing in disguise. By providing care, he or she gets well completely. Homes like these need to increase.

Vaishnavi Trust can be contacted on [e-mail].