Starter Kit. Idea 346 of 500. Cluster 17
Dementia day-care centres, which hardly exist yet and are needed everywhere
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.
The first step
Visit the clinic at the nearest hospital that sees older patients and ask the nurse in charge how many families ask where their parent could spend the day. Then ask 10 of those families, or families you know, whether they would pay a daily fee for a safe, supervised day with lunch, 3 days a week. Rent nothing yet: a list of names and a price they accepted is the proof.
- Who pays first
- A family where one adult has given up work to stay home with a parent with memory loss, and a child abroad would pay to give those days back.
- What leaves today
- Family members now leave jobs, or the island, to cover care alone; a day centre turns that lost income into paid, trained local work.
Ask first
- the area Medical Officer of Health. Ask what a day-care centre for older people must meet.
- the local council (Municipal Council, Urban Council or Pradeshiya Sabha). Ask whether a house can be used as a day centre.
Check before you spend
Registration for a day centre, staff trained in dementia care, food safety for the lunch, and what happens if someone becomes ill or wanders.
Find out these three numbers
- How many families ask where a parent could spend the day?
- What daily fee did families accept?
- How many staff do you need for each guest?
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.