Idea 344 of 500. Cluster 17: Health, care and the parents of Sri Lankans abroad
Medical escort services: a nurse takes the parent to the appointment and reports back
The mechanism, from the book
Sri Lankans abroad have parents at home whom they cannot look after from Melbourne. They will pay, and the money stays.
Every idea in cluster 17 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Ask the outpatient receptionist at your nearest private hospital which days are busiest with elderly patients who arrive alone. Then offer three Sri Lankan families abroad a single escort for their parent's next appointment at a fixed price: pick-up, waiting, the questions asked, and a written summary sent abroad the same evening. One paid booking, and one summary the family forwards to a sibling, is your proof.
- Who pays first
- A child abroad whose parent has a specialist appointment next month and no relative free to take a day off to go with them.
- What leaves today
- Relatives now fly home or lose working days to sit in waiting rooms; a trained escort turns that cost into paid local work and a written record.
The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.
In the book
- Ch. EightWhat It Costs to Go First
Remittances and what it costs the first one to go - Ch. SixteenThe Bridge
The institutions already in existence that could carry value back
More from cluster 17
- 341Home-care agencies with trained, vetted carers, booked and paid from abroad
- 342Assisted-living homes for the parents of Sri Lankans abroad, with the standard published and inspected
- 343A daily check-in service: a nurse's visit, a photograph, a message to the child abroad
- 345Pharmacy delivery with the prescription managed and the refills tracked
- 346Dementia day-care centres, which hardly exist yet and are needed everywhere
- 347Physiotherapy at home for the elderly, subscription-priced
Idea 344 of the 500 in the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? Every one can be started by one person, one family or one small firm.