Date: 30 May 2017
A Panacea for a Peaceful life during Silver Years
Retirement communities that are operational today in India cater to various services that the senior citizens need and also provide basic medical services including an ambulance for emergency evacuation.
Are these retirement communities able to fulfill the requirement of senior citizens, especially in the context of longevity?
How Covai Property Centre differentiate itself from others?
Being a pioneer in the concept of Retirement Homes which is now replicated with a few modifications here and there by others in the industry, Covai Property Centre is taking a pioneering step again by perceiving post-retired life holistically by venturing into “Healthcare” aspect more inclusively by looking into “Care” aspect in a comprehensive way. Result, Covai has crystallized the idea to take care of the following in their forthcoming Retirement Communities.
- Memory Care
- Assisted Care
- Palliative Care
- Persons with Disabilities (PsWD) Care
Senior Citizens with Special Children (Autism, Down syndrome, Cerebral Palsy and Spastics) in Covai’s Retirement Communities will be assured of quality care even after the time of their parents, till their lifetime.
The salient feature of this “Care” aspect is that it takes care of the special children after the time of the parent. This will be a huge relief to the parents of such children who will be staring at the question “what after us”?
The principle upon which of CovaiCare is evolved are as follows:
- Fostering an atmosphere of acceptance of the Persons with Disabilities as an integral part of a Retirement Community
- Integrating parents / guardians of PsWD in the community activities with other residents of the community, thus providing moral support to them
- Enabling Camaraderie among parents/guardians of PsWD resulting in the mutual support for the care of the PsWD
Seniors also need access to senior care products. The retirement community should be able to arrange products including wheel chair friendly bathroom fittings.
So, the need in the coming days would be quality care in all its dimensions for senior citizens. Mere dwellings, basic amenities and services as well as medical care will not suffice in the context of longevity and expectations. We need to fulfill the requirements of seniors, remove their worries of availability of care as they age and, thus earn their trust.
Hari, a corporate professional, retires at the age of 60 from service after working for more than forty years. His high-pressure professional life took a toll on his health. He is now a patient of Hypertension and Diabetes. With advancing age, Hari may need not only a care in a medical centre but also a professional care. After all, who can predict what is in store in the future? What will happen if Hari gets a stroke? How will he be nursed to normal health? Is there any means in that retirement community to provide Physiotherapy that Hari will need for his rehabilitation?
Like Hari, there are many who are facing health problems and, in their silver years, the senior citizens suffer more. Senior citizens prefer to move to a retirement community because they need services and more importantly care, especially with advancing age. They need care – assisted, palliative, memory and PsWD care. They expect to be taken care of with quality services and care to meet all eventualities – Parkinson, Stroke, Dementia, Alzheimer, and Osteoporosis etc. They expect to be provided with Care Givers for even short-term care after say, a Bypass surgery or knee or hip replacement surgery.
Seniors are aware of the importance of wellness and health care. With longevity, lifestyle has changed. While seniors are more active today, longevity demands more attention to the issue of care. What then are the expectations of a senior citizen from a retirement community?
Covai will have the standard feature of Retirement Homes as follows in all their projects.
Medical Features:
- Resident or on call Doctor
- Availability of nurse and care givers
- Emergency care
- Medicines and assisting medicine dispensing to the seniors to take medicines on time
- In-house Ambulance 24X7
- Escort services to hospitals for those requesting the same
- Psychological counseling where needed
- Well equipped medical centre with all necessary medical equipment that are needed and medical attention if necessary as mentioned in the earlier paragraphs
Senior Friendly Amenities:
- Gardeners and excellent landscape with trees and flowering plants
- Clean drinking water 24X7
- Concierge services including transportation, ticketing assistance as per request, payment of bills, property tax payment, filing of Income Tax Returns etc
- Back up power for dwellings, common areas and street lights including Solar Street Lights
- Organizing events, picnics, tours, spiritual talks, celebrations of festivals and birthdays, movies in Open Air theatre, competitions, talks by Doctors on health care and wellness etc
- Fostering close relationship between staff and residents to make one big Joint Family
- Wheel chair friendly community
- Designs of dwellings to suit senior living with special specifications and eye for detail like height of switch boards, large toilet with wheel chair friendly toilet fittings, Sensor lights, smoke detectors etc.
- Emergency alarm system and well trained staff for emergency evacuation including availability of Paramedics
- Guest rooms, Modern Kitchen, Pantry, Club House with Lounge, large dining hall, lift to First Floor, Indoor Games room, Wading Pool, Private dine in facility, library, reading room etc.
- Activity Centre, Multi purpose hall, Open Air Theatre, Staff quarters for kitchen staff, Manager, Nurses, Care Givers, Ambulance Driver etc
- Software for services – accessible to all residents through mobile phones
General Facilities:
- Active Life
- High Security including access control, CCTV
- Quality Services by highly motivated and trained staff
- Good catering with consistency in preparation of food as well as hygienic conditions of the kitchen and personal health state monitoring of kitchen staff
- Housekeeping services by trained professional staff who are cheerful and motivated to work with passion and compassion towards the seniors
Covai Property Centre (I) Pvt Ltd:
We view Senior Living more as a social responsibility to enable the Senior Citizens and Persons with Disabilities to have a sense of belonging in the society till their time rather than a sense of drifting with no one to look up to. The greatest tragedy in life is a sense of loneliness. CovaiCare, the registered brand of Covai Property Centre attempts to give hope to such persons with a sense of belonging and also provide quality care and services with unmatched passion and compassion.
With over 13 years of experience the Company stands tall today with a professional, dedicated as well as committed team to fulfill the responsibilities to seniors. Planning for the future, the retirement communities developed by Team CovaiCare will be the choice of Senior Citizens and keeps itself abreast of technological developments that can make geriatrics care very enjoyable.
Yes, CovaiCare ……………because we care with Passion and Compassion!
Colonel Achal Sridharan, VSM