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

One morning our member Mr. Provash Kumar Mukherjee felt extreme pain in his abdomen, started feeling breathlessness with blotted and stiff stomach because of severe constipation and called us for help. He stays in Mullick Bazar area which is a congested area most part of the day and reaching there from our Golfgreen office would take minimum 1 hour. Our commitment time to reach member at hospital is 1 hour. Our staffs arranged an ambulance from Sealdah, so that it could reach on time. The staff who was assigned for this job, thought that if he takes the normal route, it would take more than an hour. So, he took the shortest route through the bylanes (which he came to know when he was posted in Fort William) and reached member’s house within 40 minutes. Even the ambulance which was coming from Sealdah couldn’t reach within stipulated time because of heavy traffic. He waited there for the ambulance to come, carried the member from 1st floor with the help of one of the ambulance staff and escorted him to hospital. Because of his quick thinking he could reach member almost on time which is truly commendable.

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

Mr. Asok Kumar Basu Thakur got admitted to Fortis Hospital for his dialysis. While the dialysis was on its progress, he suddenly started to have some complications and needed blood transfusion. His blood group A – (Negative) is a rare one. One of our staffs went to visit him at Fortis Hospital, EM Bypass. It was a regular visit. The member’s daughter was present there quite tensed. They were not able to get that blood group from the hospital Blood Bank. They thought of arranging it from SSKM hospital. Our staff rushed to SSKM where he was refused. He didn’t stop there. He started looking for other sources. While doing that he gathered information that Maniktala Blood bank can provide the required blood group. He informed the member’s daughter and immediately hurried to Maniktala. There he was asked to wait for 3 hours as he was in a queue comprising of 5 people. But the doctors of Fortis Hospital asked to collect blood within ½ hour. Without having any other options, he promptly showed his army identity card and made a special request. It was for his sheer presence of mind he could not only manage to get blood but also reached hospital within an hour and made sure to get the transfusion start. It was already 9pm. His duty hours was supposed to get over by 6pm. The sense of responsibility prevailed over the routine. This virtue of our staff was very much appreciated by Mr. Basu Thakur’s daughter.

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