Home care takes away senior citizens' loneliness
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The aging population and limited number of nursing homes for senior citizens has prompted HelpAge Indonesia, a foundation especially established to help the elderly, to initiate a pilot project called home care program.
HelpAge Indonesia director Eva A.J. Sabdono said on Tuesday that the pilot project began in May and would continue for two years.
"Under the program 36 volunteers visit 46 senior citizens at their respective homes at least once a week. During the visits, the volunteers engage them in conversation so that they will not feel lonely," she told The Jakarta Post.
"This program is very important because many elderly people live alone in their homes due to the limited number of available nursing homes."
For the time being, the pilot project -- which receives funding from HelpAge in South Korea -- is being conducted in Tegal Alur subdistrict, West Jakarta. Due to the limited number of volunteers, some have to take care of two elderly people.
The aging population due to the increasing average life expectancy from 43 years in the 1960s to the current 64 years and the changing concept of family from extended families to nuclear ones have seen many elderly people entering nursing homes either on their own initiative or that of their family's.
Eva said the pilot project could not cover around 400 elderly people living in the subdistrict, but she claimed that those who joined the program have started to enjoy the visits of the volunteers.
She also hoped that the home care program could be used as a model to help senior citizens in cities.
An official with the City's Mental, Spiritual and Social Welfare Agency Djoko Haryanto said the city's eight nursing homes and four private ones could only accommodate 900 people, whereas he estimated there are around 8,000 elderly people living alone.
He said that his agency might adopt the home care program, pending an evaluation in two years. However, he added that should the agency adopt the program, it must consult with the City Council first as it would involve the city budget.
According to Eva, the government's budget allocation for the senior citizens is in line with the resolution of an international congress on elderly people in Madrid in April 2002. Indonesia participated in the congress and signed the resolution.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri issued a presidential decree on June 22 on the establishment of the National Commission for Senior Citizens (Komnas LU), which is tasked with monitoring the government's programs for the elderly, among other things.
The commission will have 25 members consisting of representatives of relevant government officials, non- governmental organizations activists and academics.