A Silver Amore

Ankit Shah contacted A Journalist Reveals via email regarding his Elder Care Home – A Silver Amore. His mail read: “We have started an Assisted Living Elder Care Home for people above the age of 55 years and who are suffering from Alzheimer’s, Dementia (Memory Loss), Parkinson’s and those who are paralytic and the family is finding it difficult to provide care at home due to their work schedule. Our center is spread across 1 Acre (Approx 43000 Sq Ft) of land, and is constructed as per a barrier free design, keeping in mind the elder needs. It’s a first of its kind in Mumbai with basic nursing facility and it has a serene beach just 2-3 minutes away, has a natural and pollution-free, calm and soothing environment with lots of vegetation in the premises.”

His mail also said, “We provide male to male and female to female caregivers at the ratio 3:1 to assist elders in activities of daily living. We also have doctors visiting regularly and everyday activity to keep elders mentally and physically active, thereby improving the quality of life in their golden years. I have done my Masters in Management Studies (MMS) with a special study in elder care from University of Mumbai and this is a social entrepreneurship concern started by me purely for the passion of working towards elder care and their betterment.  For more details you can visit our website.”

A Journalist Reveals was honoured to visit the place courtesy of Ankit and was impressed by the open and back-to-nature ambiance of the home. There was no pollution and no congestion of the city there. This was a place, which was in a village, within the city. Then we decided to do an interview of the founder, Ankit Shah. Here are excerpts:

What inspired you to start this old home?

It was during the time of my post graduation when I joined an NGO working for elders for my internship and started working on idea of transforming an NGO into a social entrepreneurship concern. That’s when I developed a passion for elder care and after extensive study and research I decided to start an assisted living elder care home for elders who can’t do their daily activities independently.

P.S: It is not an old age home; it’s an Assisted Living Elder Care Home.

What can be called your stumbling blocks as far as this home is concerned?

Whenever you walk on different path and start something new, you are bound to face challenges. Similar case was with me, after completing my masters I didn’t take up a corporate job. Instead I started working towards my passion, on the idea that I believed in and people thought I was unable to find a job. But I was confident about what I wanted to do and worked with dedication and started this home. Also another challenge we now face is the social stigma that there are a lot of people who need our services but are reluctant due to the fear of getting a bad name in society. But it’s high time people should get rid of that social stigma and instead understand that if circumstances arise, placing their elders in such a home is the best option so that they get the required care thereby improving the quality of life in their golden years.

What can be called your landmark achievements as far as this home is concerned?

For a first generation entrepreneur, making this kind of facility itself is a landmark achievement. I took up this venture with limited resources and very less awareness towards the concept, which makes it difficult to explain to people and make them believe that such a concept can work. Also we feel happy when we see the positive changes in our residents after they have shifted to our home. They have become socially active thereby interacting with their age group and their overall health has also improved.

What kinds of people join this home?

This home is basically for those elders who are 55 years and above and suffering from Alzheimer’s /Dementia or have Parkinson’s or are partially/totally paralytic and cannot do activities of daily living independently. This home is also for the elders who are extremely old (80 and above) and are dependent on caregivers due to age-related problems.

How many patients are already there?

At present we have two residents staying at the facility and we are in process of admitting a third resident. Already we have a list of queries which we have started screening.

What is their condition, when they reach here?

The conditions of patient depend upon their illness, if they are suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia there are chances they might be violent or do not interact with outsiders at all. Patients with Parkinson’s or paralysis are in an altogether different condition.

If it a paid home, how much do you charge per patient or per couple?

The cost depends on the patient and the level of care they would require. Basically, we take a onetime deposit of Rs 3.5 lakhs, out of which 50000 is non-refundable, 1,50,000/- is Refundable Medical Emergency Deposit and 1,50,000/- is Refundable Security Deposit. Apart from this, for a long term stay we charge Rs 1100/- per day, that includes – Accommodation, 3 vegetarian meals per day, Care Givers’ charges, basic nursing care, daily housekeeping, weekly laundry, weekly gp visit, monthly psychiatrist visit, daily wellness exercises and mind games for active living.

Do the patients have children?

Yes, they do have, but are either too pre-occupied in their daily work or require frequent travelling or are settled abroad for work.

Do you send staff to take care of elderly at home?

No, as of now we don’t provide caregiver services at home, but in future we might just start providing such services.

Tell us about the medical practitioners connected to the home?

We have doctors from almost all specialty attached to our facility. We have a geriatrician who does geriatric assessment of all patients to determine the level and type of care required for a particular patient. We have a general practitioner visiting our facility weekly and monitors the overall health of all the residents.  Our psychiatrist visits every month to assess all our residents individually. Apart from it we have a nurse available 24 hrs within our premises for BP monitoring, blood sugar testing and insulin administration and medication management. Other specialist consultants are also available on call. We also have two multi- specialty hospitals in radius of 1 km of our home.

Would you like to share any incident connected to this home – good one and did you have any testing time?

This incident happened when our first resident shifted. It was lunch time when they arrived with their family. When we were going through the admission procedure, our caregiver served lunch to the resident. The family was dicey whether she would have lunch if our caregiver would feed her as she was used to eating from family caregivers hand. But to our surprise she had the whole meal satisfactorily fed by our caregiver. Even the family was shocked but felt relieved and confident that their mother would be taken care properly at this home.

What are your future plans for this home?

As of now we are concentrating on the care plan of residents and busy spreading the word about our services so that it reaches the target audience. But for future, we plan to continuously evolve ourselves with technological advancement for making more elder friendly homes and environment so that ageing becomes a rewarding experience for our seniors and thereby improving the quality of life so that they age gracefully.

Their Contact Details: Website : www.asilveramore.com
Phone: +9199672 70587 (10am – 6pm).