For our ailing member, Mr P. Choudhury, April 27 began with serious breathlessness. Already frail and managing with the support of a nursing attendant, his condition started deteriorating around mid-day. His attendant called our Zonal Co-ordinator (ZC) Mr P. Maity sent our Member Care Associate (MCA), Mr S. Adhikari, to his house. Our MCA found him breathing very strenuously and informed Mr Maity, who called his relatives in Kolkata and told them that our member needed immediate hospitalisation. His relatives refused to have our member hospitalised because of the pandemic and wanted him to be put on oxygen at home and a doctor consulted.
The challenge was to procure oxygen. Ms S. Malakar from our National Alarm Centre (NAC) and Mr Maity talked to all our channel partners and other sources throughout Kolkata but no oxygen was available. Our team continued to search for oxygen and located a source around 8 pm; a cylinder with over 7,800 litres of oxygen. Without further ado, the required deposit was made, a mini truck was booked and the oxygen cylinder was taken to the member’s house and started immediately. We were relieved to see him get some relief.

Support Elders Impact: We give our heart to care for elders

It was from his hospital bed that our member, Mr A. Ghose, had enrolled with us. He had contracted Covid but his wife was also admitted to the same hospital with a fractured leg. It was his son who got him our membership. Upon discharge, our Zonal Coordinator, Mr R. Maity, took charge and arranged for everything that he would need at home such as oxygen, medicines and trained home care from a centre. He supervised everything as our member’s wife was still in hospital, though she had been shifted to a hospital close to their home. Things were going fine and Mr Maity was in constant touch with him and his relatives. However, his health started deteriorating on April 23 and the oxygen saturation level was going down. To make things worse, the cylinder that he was using ran out of oxygen and he needed a replacement immediately. Mr Maity ran from pillar to post to get a replacement cylinder because there was an acute shortage and finally his attendant persuaded an ambulance to part with the oxygen cylinder for him. Even that did not help and things started to deteriorate further. Mr Maity consulted his son-in-law and had an ambulance brought in to shift him to the same hospital where his wife was admitted. The member’s relatives were extremely satisfied with the way the entire process was handled and happy with the service Support Elders provided even in these trying times.
Unfortunately, Mr Ghose passed away. His son-in-law performed the last rites but the entire process was handled by Mr Maity and his team, especially Mr S. Ghosh and Mr B. Maity, our Member Care Associates, who stayed with him in the crematorium the whole night, given the long queue. Mr Ghosh’s son-in-law expressed great satisfaction with the way the team helped him during the course of our member’s illness and hospital stay and praised them for all that they had done for the last rites to go through smoothly, saying that “they were God sent!”

Support Elders Impact: We give our heart to care for elders

When Ms R. Saha, our member, wife of Mr M. Saha, fell and fractured her leg, their children enrolled them with Support Elders. Our Zonal Co-ordinator (ZC) Mr M. M. Sarkar has been in charge for them since then. Mr and Ms Saha stay on the first floor of a building that has no lift. Our Member Care Associate (MCA) Mr A. Adhikari and ZC Mr Sarkar took her to the hospital for her leg to be plastered, and had to bring her down on a chair and take her back the same way. Then came the time for her Covid shots and Ms Saha’s leg was still in a cast and her daughter was worried; so was she. Once again, our ZC assured them that they would take care of it all and our MCAs carried her down and up again to have the vaccination done. On April 28, Ms Saha was to have her cast removed at the doctor’s clinic. Sure enough the process was repeated by our MCA, Mr B. Maity, who brought her down the stairs, took her to the hospital, waited with her as her cast was removed and then brought her back home. Ms Saha is most touched by these gestures that make her feel very special.

Support Elders Impact: We give our heart to care for elders

On the morning of March 17, our National Alarm Centre (NAC) received a call from the attendant of our member, Ms M. Adhikari, saying that she was unwell. Ms S. Malakar, Shift Supervisor and Member Care Officer at the NAC, Mr M. Halder, request the MCA on duty, R. N. Sharma to visit her. He found our member with breathing difficulties and very fatigued. Our MCA checked with the member’s daughter who was present there, asked the NAC to declare a Code Red and send an ambulance. The member’s daughter said that she had e-mailed an EM Bypass hospital for a vacant bed and was awaiting confirmation. Sharma knew that our Zonal Co-ordinator, Mr S. Sarkar, was present in the same hospital, helping with the member vaccinations. He called Mr Sarkar and requested him to check if there was a free bed. In a few minutes he received a call that it was available and that he should rush her to the emergency ward where he would be waiting for them. Mr Sharma accompanied the member and her daughter to the hospital emergency and got her admitted. As she was on dialysis with several other complications, she was in the hospital for a few days and our MCAs stayed in touch with the doctor and the member’s relatives, keeping them posted with the developments. When she was well and ready to be released, our MCA accompanied her back home. Ms Adhikari is now doing well and is back to her normal routine.

Support Elders Impact: We give our heart to care for elders