Main Goal of the Elderly Project
The Elderly Project aims to improve the quality of life of the elderly population living alone in Stepanakert.
To achieve the main goal of the project the following objectives are met:
- Improving health condition of the beneficiaries through providing qualified health care services;
- Providing necessary medicines;
- Improving family life of beneficiaries through providing social services including help in everyday life;
- Food provision;
- Providing financial compensation from November to March to cover heating costs;
- Improving the social and spiritual condition of beneficiaries by organizing various lectures and events.
1. Health care services are provided by the medical personnel consisting of a physician and 6 experienced serving nurses. Besides, there is a full-time office nurse. The serving nurses pay home visits, administer necessary medication, make appointments, take the beneficiaries to the local polyclinic if required, present the prescriptions to the physician and take the medicine to the beneficiaries within a week.
For getting medical care beneficiaries visit Seniors’ Medical Center located in Hanganak NGO. It is equipped with an ECG device, Physiotherapeutic and Massage devices, Glucometer, Pulsoxymeter, and First aid kit. Funds provided by Mr. Zaven Ken Darian were used to furnish and equip the Medical Center.
The nurses pay home visits once a week to bedridden beneficiaries. The physician joins the nurses on a monthly basis to visit bedridden patients and those with acute health disorders. Biannual visits are conducted for the rest of the beneficiaries.
The project provides beneficiaries with eyeglasses after eye examinations. The beneficiaries take the prescription and visit a specialized spectacle store with Hanganak personnel to choose the frame of their choice. Thus, they get their eyeglasses within a week.
2. Drug provision. The physician prescribes medication to beneficiaries and they get the medicine in a couple of days. Some beneficiaries pick up the medicine themselves from the office whereas in general, the medicine is delivered by the nurses during home visits.
3. Social Services are provided to improve daily life of beneficiaries. Social services include housekeeping, cooking, shopping, payments, etc. these services are carried out by two social workers who serve 30-32 bedridden patients.
4. Food Provision is one of the most important project activities. Along with drugs provision, it helps to lighten the social burden faced by the beneficiaries. The majority of the beneficiaries retrieve the food from the office themselves. For the rest, the package is delivered by social workers and nurses.
5. Heating Compensation. In 2014, on the occasion of the 10th Anniversary of the Elderly Project, five A.W.W.A. members visited Artsakh. They visited the beneficiaries and personally assessed the importance of the Elderly Project in their lives. During their visits A.W.W.A. members noticed that the beneficiaries were cold in their apartments due to the lack of money. It was decided at that time to provide heating compensation to the beneficiaries in the colder months of the year. Thus, the basic services were also supplemented with heating compensation for five months of the year, from November to March.
6. Social and Mental Health Improvement
Senior Citizens’ Center
Considering poor mental and social health of the beneficiaries, Hanganak NGO established a Senior Citizens’ Center, a facility to gather the elderly together and hence, make them socially active.
Hanganak NGO participated in a grant competition between local non-governmental organizations announced by the government in 2006 and won a grant of 1,000,000 AMD to establish the Senior Citizens’ Center in Stepanakert.
The funds provided by the government were used to purchase equipment for movie screenings. Tuesdays are considered movie days in Hanganak.
Film screenings are usually accompanied by refreshments like tea or coffee. The elderly enjoy the opportunity to mingle and socialize.
Spiritual Lessons
Karen Apresyan, the Head of the Preaching center of Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, often visits the Hanganak clinic and conducts spiritual conversations with the beneficiaries and answers their various questions.
Annual trips are organized to the historical sites of Artsakh – Gandzasar, Shushi, Amaras, Tigranakert, etc.
On holidays like the New Year and Christmas, March 8, May 9, The International Day of Older Persons on October 1st, Hanganak organizes festive receptions for the beneficiaries.
In addition, beneficiaries often visit the office with an initiative to treat each other with national dishes, such as zhengyalov hats, khashil or other.
Food and medicine provision, heating compensation and other services have significantly changed the lives of our beneficiaries.
The Elderly Project has achieved its main goal of improving the quality of life of the beneficiaries making them socially active and instilling confidence in the face of severe trials.