A day after Amphan ravaged the city, drinking water that had been stored by our member, Ms Banerjee, fast depleted and soon she was left without drinking water as there was power outage in her area. As soon as her daughter called up the Support Elders NAC, our staff immediately called up Ms Banerjee and assured her that any essential item that she required would be arranged. Our staff member went off to procure drinking water, but all nearby general stores and medicine shops were out of stock. Finally, our staff managed to get 8 litres of water from a medicine shop in a narrow alley. But that was only half the battle won. It was even more challenging for him to reach the water to Ms Banerjee, as uprooted trees, electric poles, and torn or dangling wires blocked the road to Ms Banerjee’s residence. Not one to give up, he managed to reach Ms Banerjee’s residence after an hour through narrow bylanes. On reaching, he found that there was no water for other uses as well. He immediately arranged for another 40 litres of water.

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

As Amphan raged across the city, it caused widespread damage in different parts of Kolkata. Particularly so, for our member, Ms Ghosh, residing in South Kolkata. It was quite a terrifying time for her, as it blew away her entire verandah window, leaving a million pieces of broken glass! The ferocity of the wind and the lashing rain, which flooded her entire verandah, was no less than a nightmare. Knowing that she wouldn’t get any carpenter to repair it, due to Covid-19 restrictions, she called up one of our Member Care Associates for assistance. Immediately our staff set off to look for a carpenter. After a long search, he finally managed to get a carpenter, who agreed to take up the task provided he was dropped home, as most of the roads were blocked by uprooted trees and broken electricity poles and streetlights. On reaching the member’s house, the Member Care Associate and the carpenter went out again to buy the required material. Thankfully, they were able to get the required material. After the job was done satisfactorily and the window was working fine, the Member Care Associate dropped the carpenter home as promised. Ms Ghosh was most relieved that the job had been done so efficiently and promptly.

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

On 21st morning, the day after cyclone Amphan hit Kolkata, when the entire city was trying to cope with the disaster, our member, Ms Chatterjee, faced another crisis at home. Her husband had pulled out his feeding tube in the morning and she was unable to feed him. Somehow, she managed to call her home physician but needed to arrange for a new feeding tube. She called the Support Elders NAC for assistance. Our NAC immediately contacted one of our staff and requested him to look into the matter. Our staff called Ms Chatterjee and requested her to click a picture of the feeding tube and whatsApp it to him and asked her for details regarding the size, etc. With most shops being closed either due to the lockdown or waterlogging or uprooted trees blocking the way, our staff finally managed to procure one from a far-off store. After reaching Ms Chatterjee’s residence, he made sure that the doctor could insert it and Mr Chatterjee was able to take food through it before leaving.

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

On 27th of April, our member, Ms Sinha, fell ill and got in touch with us. We immediately attended to her and hospitalised. By evening, her condition worsened. She needed blood transfusion. Two units of blood were required urgently. The hospital authorities got in touch with us and the Support Elders NAC immediately informed the location in-charge about the requirement. It was about 6.30 in the evening. The location in-charge immediately started calling different agencies and blood banks, but unfortunately blood of the required group was unavailable. Without waiting any longer, he took off on his bike and finally managed to find an agency in Madhyamgram who could provide the same, but they needed the medical papers. To avoid any delay, he asked a staff member to rush to the hospital and WhatsApp him the papers, while he asked another staff member to meet him at Madhyamgram and collect the units of blood from him, so that blood transfusion could start at the earliest. This thoughtfulness and foresight proved highly beneficial for it took him a long time to complete the paperwork. However, his sense of responsibility didn’t stop there, for even though he reached home around 10:30 p.m., after completing the paperwork, he called the hospital to enquire about the patient and to check if anything else was required.

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