What are the Safety Measures to be taken by the Family Members of Senior Citizens in India?

Some of them live alone; while some odl couples stay alone; and some of them stay with their children and grand children.

Some of the Senior Citizens stay in Free or Charging- ‘Old Age Homes’.

Many of the Senior Citizens go for walking-exercise, alone or along with their ‘Better Halves’ or along with other Senior Citizens, neighbors and friends.

Some other Senior Citizens go to the houses of their other relatives and friends.

Many Senior Citizens are going to the ‘Milk Booths’ for getting milk and to the Family Ration Shops for procuring the ‘Food Commodities supplied by the Family Ration Shops.

Some other Senior Citizens go to the Schools for dropping and taking back their grand children, as most of the parents in the Metropolitan Cities and Towns in India are both employed.

Nowadays, there are many reports of missing of the Senior Citizens in India; they are reported missing after going out for some of the above mentioned activities.

Because of ‘Amnetia’ or ‘Forgetfulness’/ Temporary of Permanent Memory Loss occurring in the old age, they tend to forget their way back home etc. and they are said to find it difficult to return home safely.

Sometimes, the Senior Citizens  meet with road accidents, such as ‘hit and run’ by two wheeler, four wheeler vehicles, auto rickshaws and even by bicyles and fall on the road.

Sometimes they swoon and fall down due to giddiness, caused by their old-age, hot sun and  their chronic diseases such as ‘Diabetes’’/ Blood Sugar and /or Heart Diseases, especially, ‘Coronary Artery Disease’/CAD  or ‘Angina Pectoris’ and rarely due to ‘Fits’ etc.

According to the officials of ‘Helpage India’, an NGO dedicated to the ‘Welfare of the Senior Citizens in India’, there are many reports of missing Senior Citizens and even Children, received at their ‘Help Line’ Telephone Numbers, at an average of 15 calls per month.

The NGO-‘Help Age India’ works in collaboration with the ‘Gupati Venkata Krishna Reddy Emergency Management and Research Institute’/ ‘GVK EMRI’, which is running the ‘Emergency Ambulance Services’ in various States of India.

 

According to the ‘Help Age India’ and the ‘GVK-EMRI’ Ambulance Services, the missing children are traced and found out quicker than the missing Senior Citizens.

In case of Senior Citizens, in most of the cased they are found within a day or two and in some cases it  takes more number of days to find them out.

As and when reports of missing Senior Citizens and Children are received by the ‘Help age India’, they pass on the details of the missing Senior Citizens and Children to the Local Police Station authorities, to enable tracing of the missing children and the senior citizens at the earliest.

Also they will  provide the Addresses of the ‘Old Age Homes’ to the family members of the missing Senior Citizens for searching for them there.

Sometimes the Senior Citizens are found to have gone to the Old Age Homes themselves.

In some other cases, the people who find them on the roads, usually leave them at some Old Age Home, as handing over them to the Police Stations are risky, including cumbersome procedures, as they may have to go to the Police Stations and even courts for giving statements and witness.

The ‘Help-Age India’ has advised that the members of the families with Senior Citizens who go out for walking or to the houses of their relatives & friends and other places must:

• Make sure that the Senior Citizens always carry their  Photo  ID cards with Address and Contact Phone / Mobile / Whats app Numbers of the family members,
  

• Ensure that the Senior Citizens have Mobile Phones with them,  with the important contact numbers stored in them,
  

• Ask the Senior Citizens to go with the other Senior Citizens going to the same public destinations, such as, Temples, Beaches, Parks, Schools and Ration Shops.,

• Keep the  latest Photographs of the Senior Citizens in the Mobile Phones of the family members, which can be used in case of any emergency and

• Call the Helpline Numbers 1253 or 18001801253 (Toll Free) or 108 or 104 for Help, in case of Emergency, related to the missing of the Senior Citizens.

The following are the Emergency Telephone-Numbers of ‘GVI EMRI’- Ambulances in various States of India:-

State / Telephone Number(s):

• Andhra Pradesh / +91-40-23462600, 23462602

• Assam /  +91-361-2236768

• Chhattisgarh /  +91-0771-2511000

• Goa / +91-832-2458042

• Gujarat / +91-79-22814896

• Himachal Pradesh /  +91-1792-239700

• Karnataka / + 91-80-23280161

•  Madhya Pradesh /  +91-755-2579023

• Meghalaya /  +91-364-2590510

• Tamil Nadu/ +91-44 – 28888060

• Telangana / +91-40-23462600, 23462602

• Uttar Pradesh /  +91-522-2421946

• Uttarakhand / +91-135-2527627