The Chennai Chapter of Dignity Foundation (DF) which celebrated its silver jubilee last year has been winning the Best Chapter award for four years in a row. I have been a member of DF for over 15 years, and I am very impressed with the dedication and commitment shown by the staff in the Chennai Chapter to elder care which has helped them achieve this feat.
Before I go into the activities of the Chennai Chapter
a quick recap of the origin of DF.
Founded in 1995, by Dr. Sheilu Sreenivasan,
Dignity Foundation an NGO aims to change the way people look at ageing in
India. The story behind what made
Mrs Sreenivasan start DF makes for
interesting reading (see the box). It started
with Dignity Dialogue, India’s longest-running senior
citizen magazine with a circulation of 20,000. Dignity Dialogue magazine gave
birth to Dignity Foundation whose aim is for
elders to age productively and live their golden years with Dignity. Started in Bombay DF now has chapters in Delhi,
Calcutta, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad. A new chapter was started in
Coimbatore recently. Activities of Dignity Foundation are funded by member fees
and donations from Corporates through their CSR programs. The Foundation is
governed by a Board of Trustees.
Dignity Dialogue was followed by Dignity Chai Masti Centers
(CMCs)where senior citizens meet, bond and explore their talents. With 30
vibrant centers across 8 cities in India, CMCs offer regular sessions for
wellness, entertainment, recreation and hobby cultivation, keeping the members
active and engaged. What started as physical activities at offices of the
chapters is now available also as online (zoom) sessions to those who prefer
virtual participation from the comfort of their homes.
.
Dementia Day Care Centre is
another important service offered by the Foundation which provides a
safe and stimulating environment for people living with Dementia. This service,
offered for a fee, offers crucial respite for caregivers, reducing their
physical and emotional stress. It is an ideal solution for working couples who
have dementia patients at home. This service is available in Mumbai, Pune,
Chennai, New Delhi and Kolkata. At the Centers, members receive compassionate
care by trained caregivers along with therapies to delay the progression of
Dementia.
Anand Daan is a service under which DF identifies senior
citizens who are genuinely needy in the slums of cities, providing free monthly
ration kits to them creating food security.
Under Dignity Care, DF runs Day Care centers,
Loneliness Mitigation centers and Dementia Care centers as a free service to
poor seniors living in slums of cities. Right now, such centers are functioning
in Bengaluru, Chennai and Mumbai.
DF also runs, under a separate trust, an assisted
residential facility at Neral, near Mumbai.
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The Chennai Chapter was started in 1998 based on the
request of readers of Dignity Dialogue in Chennai. Initially the activities
were related to the magazine. Monthly
gatherings to celebrate the cover personality were the beginning of Chennai’s
initiatives. It gradually grew into other services to senior citizens, like
companionship to lonely elders, helpline for rescue of abused senior citizens, and
CMC’s (Tehneer Arangams) providing some form of entertainment and
opportunities for daily bonding .
Sheilu Srieeivasan, the founder of DF says,
“The year 2016 was a turning point in the growth of the Chennai Chapter when
Felista Jose joined as the Chapter Manager. Under her dynamic leadership ably
supported by a strong advisory council headed by Mrs.Sundara Gopalan and the
philanthropic N C Krishnaswamy, the chapter started flying the Dignity flag
high, leading to the grand Silver Jubilee Celebrations of the Chapter last
year”
Felista says, “In 2016 and 2017, we launched a
project titled Wellbeing Enhancement aimed at improving the lives of
underprivileged senior citizens in five slums of Chennai: Kannagi Nagar,
Saidapet, Srinivasapuram, Dooming Kuppam, and Nochi Kuppam. This initiative
reached approximately 4,500 elders.”
The Dementia Day care center started in Chennai in 2004
has now 25 members attending
the center daily. A trained social worker is responsible for coordinating
center`s activities and its smooth
functioning. The services provided at the center are daily bus service to pick
up and drop, good nutrition, simple yoga, a range of therapies like: Occupational therapy, Physiotherapy,
Recreational therapy and Cognitive therapy conducted by professionals. The center
provides a safe secure setting, constantly encouraging members into activities
to keep them alert all the time.
According to Mr. Sabarinathan, son of Mrs. Geetha with fronto-temporal
dementia, the family was
finding it difficult to handle
her behaviour.
“After trying out various
options, we were referred to Dignity Dementia
Day Care centre. Mother liked the environment very much. Being at the day care
centre, participating in various activities,
was far more effective than all the medicines she was taking.
I have visited many such centres, and I find the dedication of the staff at
Chennai DDC to be the best”
At present, the monthly fee charged by DF per patient
in Chennai is Rs.15,000, which covers patient pick-up and drop-off services,
morning and evening tea accompanied by refreshments, lunch, and all therapy
services.
As a part of strengthening the Centre and
extending the activities to more people, branches of the Chennai Chapter were
started in Mylapore and Tiruvanmiyur in 2018 which has helped in growing the
number of members attending the Centre .
A day care centre was started on 20th
January,2020 at Mullaima Nagar, a slum, with ambitious plans. The announcement
of the lockdown and the pandemic forced the centre to be closed immediately.
But that did not stop the Chennai Team from reaching the beneficiaries. It was
during the pandemic that the Chennai team came out with flying colours.
Felista says, “Despite the closure of the
Centre we established a group known as the "Corona Safety Senior Citizens
Group," Our team consisting of 15 outreach workers with 1 field supervisor
conducted 11 IEC awareness programmes to
propagate and strengthen the practices of social distancing, masking and
demonstrating the correct hand wash practices through a range of activities such as Street Play,
Mega Signature Campaign, Vehicle Awareness programs, Street painting, Villu
paatu (Musical storytelling), Awareness Rally, Kolattam (Traditional folk
dance). This initiative was greatly appreciated by the members”
SUPPORT FOR THE HOMELESS SHELTERS FOR THE ELDERLY IN
CHENNAI project was launched in 2022 in collaboration with Greater
Chennai Corporation to facilitate the improvement of the quality and services
provided to about 200 needy senior citizens in their existing old age shelter
homes in Vepery, Perambur and Royepettah .
Apart from getting nutritious food
and counselling service the inmates also receive geriatric
healthcare through different activities like fitness
classes, art and craft session, laughing therapy, basic literacy and numeracy
classes.Recently the chapter has also added slums in Mannady under this
intervention programme.
While the poor
people in slums were being looked after the team also kept the activities of
the Centre for regular members going through zoom (online) meetings with
interesting programmes five days a week, Monday through Friday. The subjects
ranged from musical evenings, fitness talks, active aging yoga, and many more
which kept the members glued to their mobile or laptop, every evening. Thanks
to the zoom facility those members who were unable to come to the centre
because of distance and travel constraints were able to participate in meetings. On October 5th, 2020,
the chapter resumed operations at the Centre, which is open from 9 AM to 5 PM.
Thanks to hybrid meetings these days the
average daily attendance has gone up to 75 members.
Commenting on the
zoom meetings T.C.Ragupathy an active member of the Chennai
Chapter says, “Regular contacts through Zoom helped us bond with each other besides giving us a chance to show our skills in singing,
sharing experiences, etc. It is like ‘meet from home’ on the lines of ‘work
from home’. This is one more feather in DF’s cap”.
The Chennai Chapter
members are also encouraged to
participate in large numbers in the All-India Events organised by the Head
Office every year.
In the last few years,
I have witnessed the dedicated staff of the Chennai Chapter regularly coming
with innovative ideas, such as intergenerational programs, to engage the
members and help in bringing to limelight their hidden talents, which has
resulted in the creation of an extended family of members. The enthusiasm and
energy of these members at all events is to be seen to be believed. In old age
friends are important and getting new friends through Dignity Foundation, in
the absence of other avenues for some members, has made their lives interesting
and enjoyable.
The Chennai chapter managed by a Chapter Head
Felista and Deputy Manager Merita and a staff of 13 trained professionals,
richly deserve the recognition they have been getting as the best chapter for
the last few years, for not only taking care of the paying members, but also
for their dedicated service to underprivileged senior citizens in the
community.
Those interested in becoming members of
Dignity Tehneer Arangams, subscribe to Dignity Dialogue or support the chapter
with donations can contact Felsita – 9840395943 or email
-felista.jose@dignityfoundation.com
In the Box
The story
behind the origin of Dignity Foundation.
It was July 1994 Dr. Sheilu Sreenivasan the
founding President of DF was on her return flight from New York to Mumbai with
a stopover at Frankfurt. As she was getting down the aircraft and walking towards
the security area, she saw two airport ground staff approaching her. As she was
wearing a saree, they had rightly identified her as an Indian. She was requested
to accompany them to meet someone who could not speak any language other than
‘Indian’. They took her to a lady clad in a white saree, sitting in a
wheelchair, face distraught and blabbering rather loudly. The moment she saw Sheilu
she instantly caught hold of her hands and didn’t let go for the next 3 hours.
The reality was that she had been abandoned by her family in the airport
washroom at Frankfurt. The lady`s handbag had no passport, no ticket, no money
– the family did not leave any trace of her identity. The lady must have been
talking in Sindhi which Sheilu could not understand but she could make out that
it was her son Munna who left her in the lurch. The German ground staff
requested Sheilu to go along with them to admit the lady in a shelter home and
return on time for her flight to Mumbai.
Sheilu says, “The trauma of leaving her
behind, totally distraught, remained etched in my mind. It was then that the social worker in me
decided: I will work and live for the elderly for the rest of my life. I
started the Dignity Foundation in 1995 in Mumbai to enable senior citizens get
rid of these insecurities and lead a life of dignity, security, fulfilment and
filled with joy”
(Dr. Sheilu Sreenivasan holds an MA in
Psychiatric Social Work from Madras University and a Ph.D. in Sociology from
Mumbai University. After giving years to research and publishing, she has
dedicated the past 29 years to the relentless delivery of elder care services
at the grassroot level across India for which she won the Amazing Indian Award
2022 for the Slum Care Category from Times Now, one of the many
recognitions she has got over the years.).
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