Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under R.N.I 53640/91
Vol. XXXIV No. 13, October 16-31, 2024
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 withthe 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 would be in order.
Founded in 1995, by Dr. Sheilu Sreenivasan, Dignity Foundation (DF), 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 box below). It started with Dignity Dialogue, India’s longest-running senior citizen magazine with a circulation of 20,000. The 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, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad. A new chapter was started in Coimbatore recently. Activities of DF 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 Centres (CMCs)where senior citizens meet, bond and explore their talents. With 30 vibrant centres across eight 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 afflicted people. This paid service, gives crucial respite for care-givers, 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 Centres, 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 in the slums of cities who are genuinely needy, and provides free monthly ration kits to them creating food security. Under Dignity Care, DF runs Day Care centres, Loneliness Mitigation centres and Dementia Care centres as a free service to poor seniors living in slums of cities. Right now, such centres 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 the city. 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 Sreenivasan, founder of the 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 Sundara Gopalan and the philanthropic N.C. Krishnaswamy, the chapter started flying the Dignity flag high, leading to 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, Dumming Kuppam, and Nochi Kuppam. This initiative reached approximately 4,500 elders.”
The Dementia Day Care centre started in Chennai in 2004 and now has 25 members attending daily. A trained social worker is responsible for coordinating the activities and ensure smooth functioning. The services provided at the centre are daily bus service to pick up and drop, good nutrition, simple yoga, a range of therapies (occupational, physio, recreational and cognitive) conducted by professionals. The centre provides a safe secure setting, constantly encouraging members into activities to keep them alert all the time.
According to Sabarinathan, son of Mrs. Geetha who has 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, 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. A day care centre was started on January 20,2020 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 a field supervisor conducted 11 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 and Kolattam (Traditional folk dance). This initiative was greatly appreciated by the members.”
Support for the homeless shelters for the elderly in Chennai was a project 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 sessions, laughter therapy, basic literacy and numeracy classes. Recently the chapter has also added slums in Mannady under this intervention programme.
During the pandemic, while the poor people in slums were being looked after, the team also kept the activities of the Centre going for regular members 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 5, 2020, the chapter resumed operations at the Centre, which is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 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 up 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 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 Felista – 9840395943 or email felista.jose@dignityfoundation.com.
It was in July 1994 that 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 three 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 in 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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