Rescuing the elderly from abandonment

In a bit of over two years, S. Dusthageer, a social employee in The Nilgiris, has rescued greater than 120 senior residents deserted by their households.

“The first thing we do when we bring someone to the shelter is to give them a bath, besides a haircut and a shave. This restores their sense of dignity after living on the streets,” says Mr. Dusthageer, who runs a house for the destitute at Mullikorai, close to Udhagamandalam city, with the assist of the municipality and the district administration.

From different districts

Many of the people who find themselves deserted in The Nilgiris are from different districts. “As it is a tourist destination, people coming here abandon their elderly family members. This is extremely sad, a certain death sentence because the temperature dips to just a few degrees above the freezing point in winters,” says Mr. Dusthageer.

So far, the efforts of social employees like him and the district administration have helped to reunite 36 elderly individuals with their households. Unlike the others, those that are reunited may need damaged with their households owing to medical points, and their households comply with take them again.

Convincing individuals who have been rejected by their households that there are individuals who want to look after them is the hardest a part of the job, says Mr. Dusthageer. “When we approach them to take them to the shelter, they are reluctant. We then show them the pictures of the other people at the shelter, and they reluctantly agree. Sometimes, it takes us an hour to convince them that we mean no harm.”

Some of the folks have been residing in the shelter because it was began. Raju, one in all the earliest residents, says many individuals select to remain there completely.

“We are treated well here by the staff. Even if our families come back to take us, we will not return as we have a very nice community of people.”