In an age when people seek help from others, a 70-year- old gynecologist and her husband in South Delhi are busy providing care to Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia patients for free. The couple claims to conduct awareness sessions about the traits of these patients at various places including Police Stations. A training session at CR Park Police Station has already been conducted.
"We make both public and police aware about various traits of senior citizens suffering from any kind of forgetfulness or dementia including Alzheimer's. Police are important because if an elderly person is wandering aimlessly on the road, the policemen will know," said, Dr Sushma Chawla.
According to her, she has already conducted a training session at CR Park Police Station. "Early this year, we conducted a session at the police station where we taught them what are the signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's disease and how does an elderly person show the signs," said Dr Chawla.
A around 20-25 police personnel were taught about the disease, said an official from CR Park Police Station.
"She came along with her team some eight months ago and had a training session with us. We have a staff of 20-25 people here and they were there during the session," said the official.
Informing about the training session at the police station, she said sometimes knowing the traits of a patient can help in finding the missing patients.
"It is very difficult for police to trace a lost patient suffering forgetfulness. For instance, a right handed person is more likely to go in the right direction. So, these are some key points that we tell police about," she said.
Apart from that, various awareness sessions have already been conducted with Resident Welfare Societies (RWAs), senior citizens forums and schools, she said.
Dr Sushma Chawla and her husband, Harish Chawla, a retired Government servant, through their society 'Hope Ek ASHA,' provide care to the patients at their homes whose families cannot devote enough time to them.
"Taking care of a dementia or Alzheimer's patient is a huge investment of time, money and emotions. In this day and age, it is difficult for their families to look after them 24x7, so once in a week our caregivers go to their houses across Delhi and play games with them," she said.
The games include number games like tombola and bingo. Some puzzles and numerical problems are also given to them besides painting activities. "All the nerves are not dead in a patient's brain, so it is important to stimulate the nerves that are not yet afflicted. These games help do that," she added.
Her team consists of 17 members besides her and her husband. The team includes two neurologists, three psychologists, seven volunteers and five caregivers all working from her home in Greater Kailash. Nevertheless, missing senior citizens is a huge problem in India as every year thousands of senior citizens go missing and are never traced.
As per National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, in 2016 alone, around 13,236 senior citizens went missing while 17,531 senior citizens missing from the previous year remained unrecovered.
Out of the total 30,767, only 9,467 or in other words only 30.8 per cent of the missing senior citizens were traced during 2016 while the rest 69.2 per cent remained untraced.
"According to NCRB data, in 2016 alone, around 13,236 senior citizens went missing.
"Around 17, 531 senior citizens missing from 2015 remained unrecovered. "Out of the total 30767, only 9,467 (30.8 per cent) were traced in 2016. "Rest 21,300 (69.2 per cent) remained untraced during the year.