Kruthaguna 5.0 - First Phase
Manudam Mehewara
Senior citizens are an integral part of a country. Sri Lanka is one of the fastest-ageing countries in the world. As a developing country, 12.3% of the population is aged 55 or older in Sri Lanka, making it the country with the highest proportion of older adults in South Asia. Older people signify a more experienced community in a country. With ageing, their health deteriorates physically, psychologically, socially, and spiritually. Older people also contribute in many ways to their families and communities. Senior citizens are a valuable asset, mainly because they are the ones who have gained sound knowledge and also great experiences. But with ageing they lack awareness about their mental, physical and spiritual health. They lack knowledge about their nutritional needs. Most of them live in an extended family with their children and grandchildren. So, there can be many conflicts among them and income problems which highly affect their lives. For the development of a country, we need our senior citizens. Therefore, it is our responsibility to protect them by uplifting their mental and physical well-being and ensure that they are secured.
The next challenge was finding a relevant community for the health awareness session to be held. With the previous information we had gained from a principal of Udahamulla area, we thought of addressing the age groups between 20 to 75 years age. There’s no point in addressing only the elderly people in identifying their needs and problems. The younger generations also should be made aware of their elders’ conditions. We chose Udahamulla Sri Siddhartha Vidyalaya for this occasion as many low and middle-level income families are living in this area. With family burdens, most of them have no time and relaxed minds to look after their own health and care for elderly people in relevant ways.
We invited Dr. Kasun Withana (MBBS Sri Lanka. MBA Sp. In Hospital & Health Services Management (UK), PG. Cert. (Harvard USA) who is a visiting lecturer of Faculty of Nursing, University of Colombo as our keynote speaker for the health awareness session. As we had planned, “Manudam Mehewara”, the 1st phase of project Kruthaguna 5.0 was held on 22nd January 2023 at the main auditorium of Udahamulla Sri Siddhartha Vidyalaya, Thalapathpitiya. Though this is a sub urban area, most of the low-income level families do not have the access to the nearby hospital, Jayawardenapura General Hospital which is in the semi-government sector. With the economical crisis, some families do not have the privilege to get access to their basic medicinal needs and health counselling. The project committee members wanted to overcome this need by helping those communities.
The audience were welcomed by the Project Chairperson Leo Senali Wanigasundara along with the committee members. Doctor Kasun Withana addressed the audience and made them aware of the ageing process, physical, mental, spiritual wellbeing and nutritional needs which have to be maintained with the ageing process. Furthermore, those who participated were separated into groups and then discussed their basic problems, the current condition of society, how they affect their mental health and ways of overcoming those problems. Regime members of Leo Club of University of Colombo engaged in this session including the Club President Leo Haritha Vimukthi, Club Treasurer Leo Thilina Bandara and Club Secretary Leo Methma Athauda. One of the main facts revealed through this awareness session was, with the invention of new technology the interaction between elders and their youngsters has been very low and that’s why family conflicts have arisen more. Dr. Kasun Withana suggested the audience the ways of overcoming those problems explaining them one by one.
The elders’ blood pressure levels, height and weight were measured and BMI values were calculated by the committee members who were nursing undergraduates. Medical advice was given for those who suffered from common diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol levels.
The programme was conducted for two hours, from 9.00 am to 11.00 am and non of us felt the time was running. The interactive session was the most appreciated event of the session as all of the participants could talk to each other identifying their problems and finding solutions for them. We gained positive feedback from our Guest Speaker Dr. Kasun Withana, regime members, the principal of Udahamulla Siddhartha College and the villagers who participated in this session. It was an extreme pleasure for us to hold such kind of a meaningful session benefitting society. We think we were privileged to serve the needed community through the first phase of project Kruthaguna 5.0
Leo Senali Wanigasundara
Comments
Post a Comment