Idea 360 of 500. Cluster 17: Health, care and the parents of Sri Lankans abroad
Fitness and rehabilitation centres for the over-sixties, which nobody has built
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
Book a community hall for 2 mornings a week for a month and run a gentle exercise class for people over 60, led by a qualified instructor, at a small fee per class. Tell 10 families abroad that their parent is welcome and that you will send a monthly attendance note. Steady attendance and a paying child abroad tell you whether a centre would fill.
- Who pays first
- A child abroad whose parent sits at home all day, and who would pay for a place where that parent meets people and keeps moving.
- What leaves today
- Nobody at home has built for older people who want to stay active; a centre turns money from Sri Lankans abroad into a local business and paid instructors.
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
- 344Medical escort services: a nurse takes the parent to the appointment and reports back
- 345Pharmacy delivery with the prescription managed and the refills tracked
- 346Dementia day-care centres, which hardly exist yet and are needed everywhere
Idea 360 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.