National Elderly Commission spearheads draft for improvement of senior citizens homes

Oct 02, 2016 News

Given its mandate, the Ministry of Social Protection‘s National Commission for the Elderly has commenced a process of initiating guidelines to help boost the operating standards of Senior Citizen homes across the country.

Senior citizens during an event at the Palms, Brickdam Georgetown.

This disclosure was made by members of the Commission, during a launch of the Month of the Elderly Activities, on Friday.
According to Chairman of the Board of Commissioners, Everett De Leon, the group has been actively accessing the needs of the elderly ever since its establishment in 2012.
“As the footmen (of the Ministry) tour job is to make the elderly comfortable in their latter years and to make recommendations to the Ministry towards improving the life of the elderly. Generally, we are there to ensure that the elderly have a good life,” De Leon stated.
She explained that as part of the work “the commission would visit post office during the time that old age pension is being distributed and we would also visit the homes to see what the need.
“We would note the shortcomings and make recommendations to the Ministry for the betterment of senior citizens.”
“In terms of the homes, we want to make sure that all the homes have the same level of operating procedures because we want to ensure that all the homes are up to standard.”
In this regard the chairman noted that work has commenced to improve the standards of senior citizens’ homes.
According to an official attached to the Ministry of Social Protection, the correspondence has since been disseminated to all the senior citizens’ homes.
“We intend to engage them to embark on a period of consultation to ascertain what is needed in the homes.”
The official noted that following the consultations, minimal operating standards will be developed. “These procedures will help to form suitable guidelines.”
Additionally, the Social Protection official said that before the first draft of standards is in its final process, evaluations of the homes will be conducted.
“We want to put mechanisms in place to develop the standards to help better the operation of the homes.”
In 2012, the commission was established to focus on improving the lives of senior citizens in Guyana.
The commission was mandated to address minimum standards for homes and facilities caring for the elderly, security, public transportation, access to services, abuse of the elderly, and social, educational and recreational programmes.
The commission was also directed to undertake community outreach programmes to sensitize people to the needs and requirements of the older population, and to foster closer interaction between the young and older persons.
Other issues to engage the attention of the commission include advocating concessions for senior citizens who use the public transport system and other services, such as bill payments, banking, pursuing legal matters and processing of passport and other applications. There are also plans for a comprehensive list of appropriate activities to observe the Inter-national Month of Older Persons in October.
According to officials from the Ministry the commission has since endorsed many of the suggestions of Social Protection Minister towards enhancing the quality of life of the senior citizens in Guyana.

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