Yogya to get comprehensive one-stop aging center

Yogya to get comprehensive one-stop aging center

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

As people's life expectancy has extended -- an indicator of the
country's success in the development of community health, there
are more and more elderly people waiting for treatment.

But the increase in aging population does not necessarily
result in an increase in the number of centers providing
comprehensive services for the elderly.

The problem has caught the attention of Yogyakarta-based
Gadjah Mada University (UGM).

"Our idea, basically, is to establish a geriatric hotel-
hospital where the elderly will find it enjoyable and comfortable
for medical treatment. It is indeed a hospital, but offers hotel-
standard services and accommodation," said Triwibowo, an
internist and geriatric expert at the university's School of
Medicine.

The idea has started to materialize with the official opening
of a geriatric clinic on Jl. Andong Baciro, Yogyakarta, opposite
to the Mandala Krida Stadium. The clinic occupies a 750-square-
meter space on the first floor of the former north wing of UGM's
three-story Dharma Putra dormitory building.

At present, the clinic only offers out-patient care but is
planning to provide inward care services on the second floor
within two to three years, including education facilities on the
third floor.

"In fact, all the buildings on the 1.5 hectare plot of land
has been allocated for the Jogja Aging Center, not only the
former dormitory building. We are now looking for interested
investors," said Triwibowo, who has been named as project
coordinator of the geriatric hotel-hospital or Jogja Aging Center
(JAC), as it is named. He added, however, the continuation of the
project would depend on how the newly-opened clinic operated.

For a start, the plan to turn the buildings into comfortable
wards, treatments rooms, laboratories and other special
facilities for the elderly was estimated to at least Rp 40
billion.

Special facilities for the elderly would include non-slippery
floors; lavatories with specially designed doors -- with its
lower parts open to enable people from the outside to monitor
what is going on inside, in case something happens to the elderly
using the lavatories; higher chairs and benches comfortable for
the elderly to sit on; and firm handles installed on the walls
along the hospital's corridors.

"For the moment, we'll see whether our plan meets the people's
needs," said Triwibowo, adding that on paper, the figures showed
the plan had a prospective future.

The optimistic tone came from the fact that Yogyakarta is home
to some 400,000 aging people of 60-years-old and over, or some 14
percent of the city's population.

Across the country, there are 14 million aged population, or
about 7 percent of the total population. The percentage is
predicted to rise to 14 percent in 2025.

According to the Ministry of Health's data, the average
person's life expectancy in Indonesia, has extended within the
last 30 years, from 55-years-old in 1970 to 70-years-old in 2000.

The data was an indicator of the country's success in
developing community health, as the number of senior citizens
reaching 60-years-old had quadrupled in 2000 compared to 6.6
million in 1980.

Triwibowo explained that growing old is a normal biological
process, however, the elderly were vulnerable to both physical
and mental diseases.

The elderly, he added, usually encountered three main
problems: health, nutrition -- like obesity or malnutrition, and
immobility. Health treatment for the elderly is not easy, since
it has be administered integrated, taking other health aspects
like nutrition and immobility into account.

"In this case, a thorough medical evaluation conducted by a
team of doctors is very essential," said Triwibowo, who also
heads the state-run Sardjito Hospital's Geriatric Clinic.

The plan for the Jogja Aging Center would offer integrated
health care services under one roof and provide education for
members of the community and research activities on gerontology
and geriatrics.

"We will also make the center as an information and data
center on geriatrics and hopefully, will work with the government
in developing programs and policies on geriatrics."