Celebrating 5 years of my journey with Samvedna Senior Care

When I set out to start Samvedna in early 2013, honestly, I had a hazy picture of what I wanted to do. The only thing that was clear to me was to make a difference in the lives of seniors, break the mundane routine and do something about their loneliness and social isolation. The idea of an activity centre, a platform for seniors to socialize and also channelize their energy in a positive way, was thus born. Soon we realized that a lot of seniors cannot come to the centre because of mobility issues, hence the home services were developed.

Dementia and other chronic ailments pose a major challenge for the families, understanding and coping with the disease is key and many a times families do not get the right support or diagnosis for their loved ones. I am happy to share that today Samvedna Senior Care provides services to help elderly with dementia as well as support the family. Our counselling services help families, individuals and the patient cope with their situation and manage their conditions. Our in home doctor services help reach out to chronically ill patients and provide a huge relief to the family.

The senior care industry is now recognized as a service sector by CII, a much needed recognition to fulfill the huge gap in quality senior care, senior living, nursing and care giving services. The demand for specialized care homes to meet needs of elderly with chronic ailments like Dementia and palliative care is going to rise. The challenge for the sector will be to provide quality care and services at price points that appeals to different pockets. The other challenge is to build a workforce of care professionals across the spectrum from caregivers, care specialists, physiotherapist and social worker, psychologists and doctors specializing in geriatric care. Due to the gap in adequate infrastructure facilities and to keep the cost of care low, there will be a rise demand for in place ageing solutions.

In the past 5 years we at Samvedna have been working tirelessly to design these solutions and see how best we can serve varied needs of people. We now have two short duration dementia care programmes, Cognitive Wellness Programme and Dementia Cafe, running at our centre to address early dementia patients and give them a social platform, and provide short term relief to families. Our geriatric counselling centres in Gurgaon and Delhi helps address elderly and families needing psycho-social support. Our in house trained elder care attendants provide relief to families who have demanding long term care-giving responsibilities. Our specialized home visit services by counsellors and social workers make a huge difference in the lives of elderly whose children live far away.

We have recently been recognized as one of the 25 best social enterprises by the Yes Foundation, through this support we hope to replicate our centre model and open at least three more centre over the next two years.

Our warm and compassionate team continues to grow and we would like to encourage people with interest in geriatric care to come join us to help us achieve our mission. Our team also works with academic and scientific societies to share and exchange our experiences working with elderly.

I would like to thank all the people who have stood by me in this arduous journey to promote professional senior care services. Without the encouragement of family, friends and a committed team we would not have accomplished what we have set out to achieve. Here is toasting to more years to Samvedna Senior Care. Cheers !