International Longevity Centre Global Alliance - Designing the Future of Ageing

29th September 2016

A one day workshop on “Orientation of Seniors as Volunteers for the Niramay Arogya Seva Project (Healthy Living)”  was jointly organized by the Association of Senior Citizens’ Organisations of Pune (ASCOP) and the International Longevity Centre-India (ILC-I) with the support of GHARDA CHEMICALS LTD on the 3rd of August 2016 in Pune.

The Niramay Arogya Seva (Healthy Living) Project is an initiative of ASCOP which promotes silver years to be mentally, physically, emotionally, financially and socially qualitative and satisfying, as every older person has a Right to Health.

This ‘Healthy Living’ project works on the principle of active older persons who volunteer to provide their services to ensure good health for those elders who are living alone or by themselves.

This includes visiting such elders, communicating with them on a regular basis, monitoring their needs, especially those of health, taking them to the doctor or hospital as and when required, getting them their medicines/ assistive devices.

ASCOP, under this project has also worked out tie-ups with reputed hospitals, doctors, chemists and other health or caregiving services and facilities to make them available to the elders at concessional rates. Efforts are also on to facilitate medical insurance for the elderly.

Nearly 100 active senior citizens have volunteered their services under this project and it was with a view to orienting them to this project and what it entails, that, ASCOP and ILC-I, jointly organized this orientation workshop for these volunteers, with the support of Gharda Chemicals Ltd.

Experts spoke on several issues that provided information to the elderly volunteers on what is expected of them, the areas where their voluntary services are required, what are the values that a good volunteer must have and other such issues.

The workshop was inaugurated by Mr. Jayant Umranikar, Chairman, ILC-I.

The other guests on the occasion were Ms. Anjali Raje, Executive Director, ILC-I and Dr. (Ms.) Alka Vyas, geriatrician. Dr. R. T. Wazarkar, President, ASCOP, Mr. Madhukar Pawar, Executive President, ASCOP and Mr. V. V. Kulkarni, programme-in-charge welcomed the guests and the volunteers who had gathered there to be oriented and trained for this project.

Topics covered included information on organ donation facilities, assistive device centres, pathology labs, medicine banks, counselling and physiotherapy facilities.

The programme ended with a questions and answers session to resolve the doubts and questions that the volunteers had and to which the concerned expert responded in detail.