Starter Kit. Idea 443 of 500. Cluster 23
Elder-care services so that the daughter can work instead of nursing the parent alone
The mechanism, from the book
The single largest unused asset in the country is sitting at home, and the reasons are practical, not attitude.
The first step
Put a notice in one temple, church or mosque, and at the local clinic, asking families who care for an elderly parent whether they would pay for a trained carer for a few hours a day. Meanwhile find two women with nursing or caring experience who want paid work. The proof is a family that books and pays for the first week of visits.
- Who pays first
- A working daughter who has been taking leave to nurse a parent, and pays a carer so she can keep her job.
- What leaves today
- Women leave paid work to nurse a parent alone; paid elder care keeps both her wage and the carer's in the economy.
Ask first
- the area Medical Officer of Health. Ask what training a home carer for the elderly should have before she starts.
- the Divisional Secretariat. Ask whether the office knows families in the area caring for an elderly parent.
Check before you spend
Confirm the carers' training and references, a written agreement with each family on hours and duties, and insurance for the carer and the parent.
Find out these three numbers
- What would a family pay for a carer for a few hours a day?
- What does a trained carer expect to earn for those hours?
- How many families nearby care for a parent alone?
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.