Nursing homes lack funding to support residents
By Devi M. Asmarani
JAKARTA (JP): Unlike orphanages, nursing homes in the city receive very little attention as they strive to support their residents.
"In the nursing homes, people's conditions are constantly deteriorating, while in orphanages, one can watch children grow," R. Daud Palilu, the secretary of the City Coordination Board for Social Welfare said.
People tend to forget about nursing homes because of their gloomy impression, Palilu told The Jakarta Post after a Christmas celebration held by the board for residents of nursing homes, orphanages, and homes for the disabled, at Bank Harapan Sentosa building, Central Jakarta over the weekend.
She blamed the difficulty of funding nursing homes on the limited financial resources.
"Unless the nursing home was founded by a church or charity, it usually provides poor facilities," Palilu said, citing the Karya Kasih Nursing Home in Kwitang, Central Jakarta which she also manages, as an example.
The nursing home, founded by the Indonesian Christian Church in Kwitang, usually spends around Rp 5 million (US$2,127) monthly for the cost of hosting 35 senior citizens, she said.
Although Yayasan Dharmais, owned by President Soeharto, gives every resident of the privately run nursing homes Rp 30,000 ($12.50), she said the amount was inadequate to support the residents.
"A senior citizen needs an average of Rp 150,000 a month. Funding the remaining Rp 120,000 for each resident can be difficult for the nursing home operators," she said.
In addition, out of the 15 privately run nursing homes in the city, only a few are established by other foundations or churches, which makes it hard to accommodate all the senior citizens.
Because of limited space, nursing homes like Karya Kasih, which are open to all senior citizens over the age of 60, must put applicants on waiting lists, until a resident dies.
Meanwhile, the familial system in Indonesian culture, which essentially requires families to take care of older relatives, does not encourage sending elderly people to nursing homes.
"Sending an older family member to the nursing home is still taboo in our culture. It could spark controversy among the family and talk among friends," she said.
Contributing to the social limitation is the government's repeated call for people not to send aging parents to nursing homes unless they really have to, as it contradicts the concept of Indonesian tradition.
What is often forgotten by people, Palilu said, is that many nursing home residents had voluntarily moved into the homes, where they have people of their age to relate to.
"Many do not want to be a burden on the family, and some just do not get proper care because everyone in the family is occupied by work and school," she said.
At the nursing homes, the elderly are provided with food and activities which enable them to live comfortably during the last few years of their lives.
The celebration
During holiday seasons such as Christmas, organizations, social agencies and schools throw parties and give gifts to the elderly to include them in the spirit of the festivities.
The celebration that took place Saturday was enjoyed by 1,000 people, including senior citizens of six nursing homes.
Among those attending the Christmas party was Kornelia Anggraeni, a 70-year-old resident of Melania Nursing Home in South Jakarta.
Kornelia, from Padang in West Sumatra, has been in the nursing home for four years, after the death of her sister with whom she was living at the time.
"My husband passed away and I did not have a child, so I moved here," she said. She said many of the elderly people living in the nursing homes also did not have children and were not married.
Meanwhile, Lusiawati who has been living in Melania for 11 years, said she enjoyed celebrating Christmas with her friends in the nursing home, although the celebrations in previous years had been much better.
"We had a lot more food before the new nurse came," she said.