Help is needed for the 'Vriddhimitra ' project that serves the elderly !

A 75-year-old grandfather named Laxman Shinde( name changed) lives with his wife and son in a slum in Pune. They have two sons and three daughters, one son was completely addicted to alcohol and the other son was living separately from them. After the girls got married, they went to their in-laws, one of them had left her father-in-law's house and came back to live with them. As there was no other earner in the house, the financial condition of the house was very fragile. In all these, the responsibility of the family was on the grandfather. He was running a household by working in a tea shop. But, unfortunately, during the period of Kovid- 19, grandfather met with an accident and broke his collarbone. Due to this accident, grandfather was completely bedridden for two- three months. He had no financial income during this period as his work stopped due to an accident. The doctor said that it is necessary to do a propersurgery. But, grandfather could not afford the surgery.

In the meantime, the work of the' Vridhadmitra' project of the' School' organization was started in the grandfather's residence. When the team of' Vriddhamitra' met with the grandfather, they had a lot of problems. Since there was no source of income, they were suffering from foodand drink to medicine. Also, his mental condition was not stable. When the mother of' Vridhadmitra' showed her grandfather to the hospital, she realized that the surgery would cost between twenty five and thirty thousand rupees. The' Vriddhimitra' team tried to do this surgery through the government scheme. But, the ball( instrument) required for Khubya's surgery had to cost eighteen thousand rupees.

Meanwhile, ' Vridhadmitra' was helping the grandfather with diapers, the family with ration- foodgrain kits, medicines, health check-upsand counseling. But, as the condition of grandfather worsened, the organization decided to provide the necessary equipment for his surgery. After admitting the grandfather for surgery, it was found that there was an infection in his kidney. A string was already inserted in his leg. As the wire came out a bit, they got infected. He had to be hospitalized for 15 days to cure the kidney infection first.

Meanwhile, ' Vriddhamitra' collected a fund of eighteen thousand rupees for the balls( instruments) required for the surgery. And finally after two months grandfather was operated on. Before the surgery, grandfather's daughters were very much against the surgery.' Vridhadmitra' also took the responsibility of counseling the grandfather's family. Apart from that, he counseled his son to stay away from alcohol addiction. Due to this, a lot of improvement was seen in the environment of grandfather's house. Even after the surgery, the' old friend' did not leave his grandfather's hand. Medicines and physiotherapy were provided to grandfather, so his health improved rapidly. For hundreds of such senior citizens, the' Vridhadmitra' project has been a lifesaver.

'Vriddhimitra 'project of 'School 'organization providing services to the elderly :-

'Society of Community Health Oriented Operational Links' ( SCHOOL) was established in 2007 with the objective of improving the health and living conditions of vulnerable and economically backward and low income groups. The headquarters of the organization is in New Delhi, and the organization has operations in many major cities of various states including Pune in Maharashtra. Through years of experience, the organization has realized that there are many needs and problems of senior citizens in the age group above 60 years from the low income group. And such needs and problems are ignored by the family.

Recognizing the need to work on the needs and problems of these citizens, from January 2019, the organization started the project' Vriddhamitra' for the elderly people above 60 years of age in certain settlements of Pune. ' Vriddhamitra' is the main project of the organization andthis project is being implemented in urban areas in Pune, Mumbai, Bhopal and rural areas in Kamre and Gwalior. In all these locations, the organization provides services to nearly 33,000 elderly persons,of whom 63% are women and 37% are men. Also, 8% of these elderly beneficiaries live completely alone. Today, this project is being implemented on a large scale in 123 settlements in eleven wards of Pune city, through which various health and other services are provided to as many elderly people aspossible.

Under the project' Vridhadmitra' , work was done in the form of creating awareness about the physical and mental problems of the elderly, creating a structure of social support by connecting with their families and other people, creating a delivery system for comprehensive basic services forthem and connecting them with various government schemes and institutions. goes_ Under this program, trained Community Officers visit the homes of the elderly in each settlementand find out their physical, mental, financial and other needs. After that, through regular home visits, thegrandparents are given free regular health check-ups, medication and counseling by trained doctors. Also, if necessary, their families are also counselled. Facilities like cane, walker, wheel chair, diaper, ear machine, spectacles and ambulance are provided free of cost. Apart from this, students of Physiotherapy College go to the settlements with the help of Community Officers and take physiotherapy exercises.

Along with this, from 2021, the organization has started health centers exclusively for senior citizens in some health centers in Pune city. Through this, an average of 150 patients visit the health centers every monthand avail healthcare services.

The' Vridhadmitra' project of the' School' organization in Pune is completely dependent on donors from the society. The institute has no government subsidy. Also, the work of the organization's project is going on with the help of philanthropic persons in the society. The organization costs at least two thousand rupees to provide health services to an elderly person for about a month, regular health check-ups and medicines. Also, the organization needs other health related materials. The organization needs collective help from the society to reach the maximumnumber of elderly people in the settlements.

Help do so

There is no government subsidy for this NGO' School'. You will get information about the activities of the organization' School' on the digital crowd funding platform' Social for Action' of Sakal Media Group. Social philanthropists, IT companies, CSR companies and foreign- Indian citizenshttps://socialforaction.com/ By visiting this website, getting information about the Vriddhimitra activities run under the organization ' School' , they can donate directly through the website by clicking on the Donate Now button. Every donor who donates through this crowd funding will get a donation receipt and a certificate of 80 G for 50% exemption in income tax.

' Social for Action' is an online, digital website platform for crowdfunding through' Sakal Social Foundation'. It is getting a spontaneous response from the donors, and in two years, through the' Social for Action' campaign, fourteen voluntary organizations working in various fields of Maharashtra and four needy persons have completed the campaign for medical assistance. Also, the funds collected through crowd funding have been classified to thoseorganizations.

Volunteers of 'Vriddhamitra ' projectinteracting with the elderly through home visits at the habitat level