Old' Lang Syne of care

Old age is the only thing that comes to you without effort and once it reaches your door step, the struggle is no less agonising. The younger generation flees away from home, seeking better employment opportunities and most often, aged parents are left alone at home waging a war at themselves without a proper support system. While getting older is inevitable, these city-based start-ups are working towards helping them grow old gracefully.

From providing regular home visits to taking them to theatres and parks and even dining out with them, these start-ups play the proxy child thus helping the younger generation look after their ageing parents even while they are way from home. Santhosh Abraham, founder of a geriatric care and service company shares one of the most heart warming incidents he came across recently. “As part of the routine home visits, our care manager visited one of our customers. He was 88-years-old and the care manager did the random blood sugar test and BP test which is part of the home visit, and we came to know that his BP was very high. The customer was taken to hospital and was in the CCU for the next three days. Doctors said that he would have had a heart attack or stroke if he wasn’t taken to the hospital on time. It is these small things that makes our work worthwhile,’’ said Santhosh.

For Rahul Upadhyay, who is the founder of an online store for the elderly, the reason and inspiration to start such a venture came from a personal experience. “Back in 2014, I was working in Bengaluru and my parents were in Patna. Due to low BP, my mother fell down during her morning pooja and I rushed to see her. It took me almost five to six hours to get a BP detection machine and that was when I realised that even when elder persons have the money to buy such things, distribution and access was a major issue,’’ said Rahul.

While Devanshi Seth, founder of another start-up that specialises on geriatric care feels that nothing surpasses the happiness that comes out of giving them company and taking care of their mental health. “I can never forget this particular incident where we facilitated one of our clients with a Bengali speaking resource to visit her twice a week in her daughter’s absence. The mother enjoyed the process so much that she “skyped” (which she learnt from the home visit personnel) and told her daughter that she could extend her stay if needed,’’ said Devanshi.