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Elderly get a phone-a-friend service
New Delhi: The elderly, who are living a reclusive life due to loneliness or age-related problems, now have reason to cheer with a new initiative offering opportunities to talk and share their feelings over phone.
Under "Adopt Through Telephone" scheme launched by the NGO Agewell Foundation, volunteers speak on phone with older people and try to mitigate their loneliness, says founder Himanshu Rath.
A study on the elderly conducted by the foundation shows that about 80 per cent of the surveyed Delhi residents in their 60s reported feeling isolated despite an active life.
While only 11 per cent of old who live in joint families experience loneliness, in nuclear families, over 70 per cent feel isolated, it says.
Differentiating between emotional and social isolation, the study conducted in January this year among 10,000 citizens above age 60 in 20 states across all economic strata found that 44 per cent in cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata felt both social and emotional isolation.
"Elders become conscious of their looks with progress in age. They do not feel comfortable interacting with others and loneliness creeps in their lives in a big way," says Rath.
Social isolation stems from a dwindling friends circle, immobility and a feeling of being ignored socially, while emotional isolation results from strained interpersonal relations within family, say psychiatrists.
"Bottling up and their psychological alienation reflects on their physical state since in any case many old people are rather self conscious of the changes in the appearance, facial expression etc," says Rath whose NGO runs a helpline for senior citizens.
"We found that many people used to call our helpline even if they did not have any problem. On probing, we found that they were lonely and did not have anybody to share their emotions with. So, we devised this scheme to help them," he explains.
The organisation tied up with local housewives and youngsters to volunteer their time and currently it has over 1200 volunteers, including 800 women.
"I do not have a mother-in-law. Through this scheme, I have found someone who gives me useful tips for my kitchen and on bringing up my children," says Suman, a 32-year-old housewife who converses with a 67-year-old woman from another part of the city.
Meanwhile, Shantnu, a 70-year-old says, "My family does not stay with me and I was very lonely before I began chatting with Dev. He is a handy guy when I am in distress and keeps me...
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