Expert care, tenderness will enhance life of senior citizens – First Lady

On Friday last, First Lady Mrs Sandra Granger encouraged 36 graduates from the ‘Care for the Elderly’ workshop to demonstrate tenderness when caring for senior citizens.
She explained that coupled with the expertise they had gained from the training, tenderness would enhance the quality of life of their clients.
The First Lady told the graduates to keep in mind that one day they, too, may need that same level of quality care and treatment.

From L-R (seated): Gender Consultant at the Social Protection Ministry, Hazel Halley-Burnett; First Lady Sandra Granger; Licensed Clinical Social Worker Ismay Griffith; and Lt. Col. (ret’d) Yvonne Smith of the Office of the First Lady, at the closing ceremony of the ‘Care for the Elderly’ Workshop. The graduates are pictured standing 

“Hopefully, when we reach that age and require that kind of care and attention, we will have enough qualified people with us who are caring enough and knowledgeable enough to handle us in the midst of all the things that happen to us when we become senior citizens… We lose control of our physical being, and all sorts of things happen,” Mrs. Granger explained.
Director of Social Services of the Ministry of Social Protection, Mr Wentworth Tanner, supporting the First Lady’s comments, implored the participants to show empathy and exercise patience when dealing with the elderly, some of whom have been victims of physical and verbal abuse and financial exploitation.
He said the Social Protection Ministry is implementing a system of 19 minimum operating standards for care giving homes.
“We must have quality care for our elders. It must be of a certain level. To be able to monitor or evaluate this, we have created a visiting committee; a multi-discipline committee. It comprises a gerontologist; we have an engineer; there is someone from the Fire Service; there’s a dietician, to look at the dietary needs of these persons; and we also have a social worker,” he explained.
Tanner said that, in 2018, a Senior Citizens Department will be established at the Ministry, and a National Policy on Aging would be implemented.
Workshop participants were drawn from various organisations, including Women Across Differences (WAD), the Buxton Day Care Centre, and the Lusignan Learning Centre. Each participant received a certificate of attendance, and this component of their training will be followed by training in first-aid, cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and the use of the Automated External Defibrillator (AED), at the Guyana Red Cross Society (GRCS) from August 21-25, 2017.
Following the First Aid component of their training, participants will be placed at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), Uncle Eddie’s Home, and the Palms Geriatric Home for one-day practical exercises.
This workshop was facilitated by licensed Clinical Social Worker Ms. Ismay Griffith, and Gender Consultant at the Ministry of Social Protection, Hazel Halley-Burnett.
The participants were placed in groups where they demonstrated how to properly care for the elderly in various stages of illness, and demonstrated the correct use of protective gear.
Ms. Lavern Fredericks, speaking on behalf of the participants, said, “We learnt that as people age, mobility reduces and it gets harder for them to get around. We learnt that we have to get patience and understanding so that they can feel comfortable and loved.”
Organised by the Office of the First Lady, in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Protection, the workshop’s closing ceremony was held at the Regency Suites Hotel on Hadfield Street, Georgetown. This is the second certified ‘Care for the Elderly’ Workshop to have been held for 2017, and is the fourth since establishment of the Office of the First Lady in 2015.
The five-day workshop was intended to help the caregivers understand their roles, responsibilities and relationships with the client, and to understand the confidential nature of their role. It focused on areas such as moving and positioning of the elderly; dealt with mental health issues such as Alzheimer’s disease, stress management, abuse of seniors, diabetes care and management, feeding of seniors, responsibilities of the caregiver and skills in communicating with the elderly.