Guyana’s elderly given new lease on life

Sep 17, 2018 News

Guyana, like other Caribbean countries, has an aging population, and Dr. Melissa DeHaarte, Coordinator of the government’s Elderly Health Programme is on a mission to ensure that the country’s senior citizens are fully integrated into the society to help mentor future generations.

Dr. Melissa DeHaarte:
Dr. Melissa DeHaarte Elderly Health Coordinator

“I want Guyana to have a new approach in terms of seeing the elderly as useful citizens because of something we call ageism which is a stigma against elderly persons that they are no longer useful and that they should be put aside,” Dr. DeHaarte explained.
De Haarte is unhappy that, generally, Guyanese are very dismissive of the elderly population.
“We are hoping that our society accepts our elderly, see them as useful, integrate them to have inter-generational exchanges with the youths because they can still teach the youths and the youths can still learn in any field, even if it’s to bake a cake. We have our teachers and nurses who would love to go back even voluntarily. We need them in our environment” the Elderly Health Coordinator said.
Most pressing on DeHaarte’s agenda is ensuring the country’s elderly always eat well, have regular exercise and can afford proper nutrition.
“What society does is lump your illness with your age, saying it’s an old people thing, you don’t need to be active or do anything. With proper nutrition, diet and exercise you can live a long, healthy and prosperous life. We don’t want our elders to be grouped as dependable people. We want to see that they contribute to society and still live longer. We need to understand that we will all get old and avoid discrimination against older persons,” DeHaarte said.
She said healthy, active geriatrics do not want to receive services or be “labelled with being sick”. This group, the Coordinator said are often financially stable and can afford visits to the private medical institutions.
The Elderly Health programme is part of the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Unit but will be an independent unit with its own budget when the 2019 fiscal estimates are presented later this year by Finance Minister, Winston Jordan.

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