As part of efforts to preserve the lives of the ageing population in Lagos state, a non-governmental organisation, Dagomo Foundation recently gave out free medical health care benefits to 25 elderly persons in Ebute-Metta.
This took place at a health sensitization programme held by the foundation for elderly persons in the community. The Chief Programme Officer, Titilola Park who spoke on behalf of the Founder, Ifueko Okauru, explained that the aim of the event was to sensitize the community on the need to care for the elderly and also foster inclusion for them in the society.
“What we want to do is to address the issue of societal inclusion in the community because we found out that the elders are often times lonely and uncared for because their family members are not around, due to urbanisation some of their family members have left the country. Some send money to them but cannot send the care they need, so at the end of the day, the elderly remain uncared for.
“Initially, we conducted a survey to know what the elders think is important to them and we found out that healthcare ranks top. For the first seven years of our existence, we have been executing medical missions and outreaches to address the needs of our ageing population. We discovered that if we could address issues at the grassroots level, we could begin to have impact on the nation as a whole. Everything that was used here was supplied by the community; the food, resources and even the volunteers who have been working with us to help gather data on the community. We are training the volunteers so that they can sustain the interaction with the elderly people here.
“We are here to launch in Lagos what we call community adoption. One of the things we want to achieve is to sensitise the whole community to care for the elders thereby integrating the whole community and also to sensitise the elders on healthy lifestyle choices. We have partnered with the state healthcare provider, the local government and a primary healthcare facility called Ingress Health Partners to achieve this.
“We will be giving free healthcare benefits to 25 people which will last them throughout the year. It goes beyond just checking their vitals, they will visit the clinic, the doctor will conduct a holistic check-up for them and give them necessary treatment.
Speaking on the importance of Covid-19 vaccination for elderly people, Paediatrician and Public Health Specialist, Dr. Orode Doherty added, “I think it is important because they are one of the priority groups of the Federal Government who are trying to ensure that they get the vaccine as fast as possible. We are doing our part to support the community mobilization for Mainland local government to get many people as possible to be immunized. They can go to a nearby health centre called ‘Domisile’, which they are very familiar with, to get their shots of the vaccine. We have informed them that they are not to pay, the shots are paid for already by the government. As long as they are seventy and above, they can go and get their shots. We are eager to see the elderly stay longer with us in the community because of their wisdom. We need them to be healthier because when they are in good health, they are not a drag on the community’s resources, instead they are a source of wisdom and wealth.”
