roopesh_kumar May 13th, 2009

Children become adults and move away to follow their career/ life, more often than not in a different location. The elders retire and become weaker/ more susceptible to ailments with age. They need more and more support as they age. How is this ensured ?

Historically, the extended family was in place where 2 or 3 generations lived in the same house, and more often than not there would be enough relatives, friends, cousins all in same city/ town, all of whom would look after each other physically, socially and emotionally. This system worked as long as majority of the new generations stayed in the same city, allowing the overall eco-system to be constantly regenerated with youngsters.

However, the reality now is that majority of youngsters are actually moving away, and this is happening across the eco-system, so the eco-system itself is not getting regenerated – it is breaking down. The secondary impact of this is that some elders now have to make the (sometimes) tougher choice of leaving their friendly environment for a completely unfamiliar place to be with their sons/ daughters, for the assurance that there will be someone to take care of them. The eco-system breaks down further. The situation is mildly different in developed societies, where the extremely expensive ‘old age home’ concept allows elders to be supported, hopefully with dignity.

Isnt it strange that there are no options for the families who don’t have the old age home option or do not wish to go for that option ?

One of the options nowadays are the townships being developed around senior citizens, with various facilities and options tailored for them. However, the above is a BIG commitment, a purchase that is likely to be one of the biggest purchases in a middle class family, and secondly, there is the issue of uprooting an elderly person from his current environment into a new one. I wonder what the market response to such offerings are..

Eldess, the platform for taking care of your Elders, is focusing on the entire set of needs of Elders, at their residence. An interesting concept, this focuses on solving the issue, which is support problems (whether help or security or healthcare) without saying that you need to move bag and baggage to a completely new place/ area to solve them..

The eco-system may still survive, albeit in one of the above forms – in townships/ old age homes OR turn to the phone and internet to maintain contact with distant ones, meet old friends where you are without change in lifestyles, and buy services where necessary.

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