Looking for that silver lining

Photo for representational purpose. Picture Courtesy/iStock

The orchestra was in full flow. A few seniors had even risen from their chairs and began to slowly sway to the beats of a popular Hindi film song; they were clapping their hands or trying to sing along. Some of the wheelchair-bound patients did the same while being seated. It was an entertainment session organised by an assisted living centre for its residents. The space - a hospital cum commune - located by the banks of a river offers round-the-clock assistance for 70-plus senior citizens with all kinds of medical conditions.

There's a catch, however, to this picture-perfect scenario. This space is in faraway Vashind, or "The Boondocks", as an acquaintance, a Worli resident, chose to call it. And even if you're a suburbanite like this columnist, it is still a long distance to cover. So why go so far, I've often been asked. Truth is, the city and its suburbs are starved of good-quality, medically secure and safe homes that offer senior citizens a dignified life. The few options that met these requirements within city limits, and may I add, good options, having done innumerable recces and physical visits over the past few years for my own father, will need you to fall into a certain income bracket, way beyond what most journalists and middle-class folk can afford. And, then, consider the big questions of hygiene and round-the-clock care. It's either one or the other. I've covered the city and the suburbs, twice over and I can safely say that it leads to shocking revelations and terrible compromises.

Hence, I, like so many others in similar scenarios and backgrounds, had to resort to moving loved ones to the outskirts of the city or beyond where both the key boxes were ticked. Others have shifted their ill/elder relatives to Pune or its surroundings, where I am told, the facilities are more reassuring on the mind and pocket. Hence, I chose Vashind, and explain this background to concerned folk each time I am posed with the ‘why-so-far-away' question. Imagine this is Mumbai, the country's commercial capital, with state-of-the-art hospitals and the best medical minds.

The second area of concern is within this industry itself, a booming one, I must add. It was during these countless visits that I also discovered that the word ‘caretaker' was being casually used, and more importantly, misused. The term is readily splashed across brightly done brochures [that mostly feature firang senior folk in English countryside settings] or websites, all in the effort to slickly package their facility to interested families [many are the cash-heavy, NRI types] into seeking homes for their older relatives. Throw in words like compassion, assisted care, yoga and meditation, fun activities, games, and one is bound to get wooed about the good life for their senior relatives.

The term caretaker is also smartly used across various tasks. To cite a few examples: Caretakers on call/1 Caretaker for 1 patient/Nighttime caretaker will be provided at extra cost/Caretaker assistance round the clock/Trained caretaker with ‘education background' available on request.

You get the drift. Most of us, me included, have fallen for the trap. And paid the price. From fake excuses to raise medical bills and make-believe scenarios, these ‘caretakers' were more about the ‘taker' than the ‘care'. Unsuspecting, believing folk who leave their loved ones in the trust and care of these spaces are left with no choice but to dole out the money, lest they don't get adequately cared for. And when the pandemic came, in a flash, these places shut their doors on the same folk, asking their relatives to take them back.

While some were genuinely struggling with funds or plagued by staff who disappeared overnight, as they headed back to their hometowns and villages, others had devious motives - to get rid of the really troublesome, afflicted residents, and retain only the healthy, NRI-funded, cash-rich ones in the space. Here, the pandemic was just a pretext to ensure no eyebrows were raised. Shouldn't the government have stepped in to ensure these places didn't shutter? But since this is a large, yet unorganised, sector that does not come under any specific umbrella, there was no one to keep tabs when rules were flouted.

It was all very insipid and helpless to watch as it unfurled, from a first-person account perspective. Even the decision to allow the vaccination drive to those physically unable to head to centres was such a delayed one, and after it was announced, no attempt was made to ensure that these old age homes had a system in place with the nearest centre to ensure residents were vaccinated.

The list of concerns are actually too many, to encapsulate in this one column. Mumbai ought to do better for its citizens, especially in these times where nuclear families and packed timelines mean less time to care for the aged. There is a reason why the word ‘dignity' is often used alongside ‘senior care'. Sadly, that connection has not been fully understood by many of those who continue to run such places or the powers who need to seriously look at improving the lives of this key chunk of our population.

mid-day's Features Editor Fiona Fernandez relishes the city's sights, sounds, smells and stones...wherever the ink and the inclination takes her. She tweets @bombayana

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