This Foundation, A Silver Lining For Senior Citizens
Most of those above the age of 60 live alone. No hobbies to speak of; post-retirement life isn’t the haven they imagined it to be. With their children at far-away places, geriatric depression born out of loneliness is one of the most prevalent forms of depression in society in these times.
This is exactly the kind of people Silver Age Foundation wants to help. “We conducted extensive research, talked to a lot of people in that age group. There’s this pervasive thought that ‘Oh, we’ve lived our lives, done everything that we were supposed to do and now we should just sit at home’. This contributes to a monotonous lifestyle which may lead to depression”, says Keeny Mahapatra, Co-founder and Trustee of Silver Age Foundation.
The foundation, a not-for-profit set up which started its journey a year back in September 2017, plans a range of activities for the city’s elderly – a senior citizen publication titled Silver Age Rocks, talent shows and services to households. But most importantly, it wants to increase awareness about issues specific to senior citizens.
This ideology led to the formation of the Silver Age Elders’ Activity Centre at Lewis Road, Bhubaneswar. The first batch of the pilot course at the centre started on August 1st. Spread over a duration of two months, ended today on October 1st, which incidentally is ‘International Day For Older Person’.
Currently, they have 19 members (16 women and three men), including one couple. The first senior activity centre in Bhubaneswar & Odisha, the classes take place from 4 to 6 pm on alternate days of the week – Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The sessions take place in and around a range of topics – yoga, music, dance, smartphone use, interactive talks on health and personal grooming.
“One of the most fun classes that all the members participated in and got homework for as well, was the ‘how to take a selfie’ class! The next day, all the members started sending in their ‘homework’ – the selfies didn’t stop pouring in after that!” shares Keeny.
The idea is to improve the mental and physical health of seniors through activity and engagement. Regular activity improves memory, cognitive skills and reduces the onset of diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s. Keeny agrees, “They may have had hidden hopes and aspirations, childhood dreamswhich went unfulfilled. We introduced the dance and music classes with that point of view. Apart from being a welcome change from monotony, it seeks to bring out a change in the usual reticent attitude that people of this age group adopt.”
Not just learning new things, the centre has also become the perfect space to make new friends and spend time over khatti and gup-shup.“Even though most members have enrolled because of encouragement from their children, some of them were reallyapprehensive. However, they loosened up soon enough!” laughs Keeny.
They aim to provide more entertainment, organise outings to movies as well as lunches in various restaurants or clubs. The first proper outing of the centre took place on August 12, when the members as well as the founders went to visit Sri Sri University for a workshop on issues faced by senior citizens. The members also came together under the aegis of Silver Age Foundation for Elders to hand over a cheque to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund expressing solidarity with elders affected by the Kerala floods.
Furthermore, the whole team went out to watch the Akshay Kumar-starrer ‘Gold’ at INOX on Teacher’s Day. The first multiplex experience for many, the members of Silver Age Elder’s Activity Centre had a wonderful time watching the movie. “We’ve been pleasantly surprised by the overwhelming response. The members as well as their families cannot simply stop raving about the centre! And the sheer happiness that they feel cannot be expressed,” discloses Keeny.
Lucy Patnaik, cofounder and trustee of Silver Age Foundation says,“We will soon be setting up a permanent centre. Our key objective is to help the city’s elderly overcome their loneliness.”After the current course ends today, they also plan to increase the class size depending on the demand.