Hope for the elderly as Kenyan nurse in UK starts care centre

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A community-based facility has been established to provide home care for the elderly. Although a relatively new concept in Kenya, taking care of elderly persons in an institution is gradually being accepted. 
Run by a rural foundation in Siaya County, the home will admit persons aged 70 and above, and help them cope up with terminal illnesses. 

With a recent survey showing Kenyans are embracing the idea of retirement homes, founders of Lois Ambitho Foundation (pictured), sponsors of the home, say they hope to touch the lives of senior citizens needing critical support in their sunset days. 
“After the launch next week, we will screen the elderly being registered as beneficiaries for efficiency and with the goal of reaching out and following up as we offer critical support,” said Christine Ambitho, the director and a nurse in the UK. 
The project, in Rarieda, Siaya County, comes in the wake of a recent audit by the National Gender and Equality Commission which showed there are few institutions uniquely established for the care of old people, with the existing ones experiencing resource constraints. 
“The audit revealed there are few faith-based and private institutions uniquely established for the care of older members of society in the six counties we visited,” commission chair Winfred Lichuma disclosed.
In Kiambu, Kericho, Vihiga, Machakos, Nairobi and Kajiado, according to the commission’s findings, the government does not own a single home for the elderly, leaving communities to rely on privately-sponsored hospices. 
Ambitho, who put up the facility through well-wishers in memory of her mother, says the home will support the elderly lead a high quality of life. Many of the elderly, she says, are often left in rural areas where they struggle to meet basic needs.
She says lack of professional advice on self-care strategies, poor communication and coordination of services, lack of information on the needed care and funding gaps are the main challenges facing homes for the elderly.  
According to United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs report, the number of senior citizens in Kenya is currently estimated at 4.5 per cent of the population, and is projected to double to 9.5 per cent by 2050, with the underlying challenge of poverty.
According to Help Age Kenya, more than half of the older members of the society live in absolute poverty and “older people are typically among the poorest and most neglected.”
Ambitho hopes to boost old people’s access to medical services and cut down common illnesses through monitoring and sustained sensitisation. “We are seeking to raise funds to bring in ultrasound, ECG and blood pressure machines here besides a van, beds and exercise equipment among other necessities,” she said yesterday.
“The challenges our family experienced when my mother was ill in terms of lack of support in the community for elderly people motivated me to set up this foundation,” says Ambitho, a nurse in the UK.
Bondo MP Gideon Ochanda and Siaya County officials have been invited to the launch next Saturday.  

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