Over 300 aged residents in the Jirapa Municipality received free age appropriate medical care from the Jirapa Municipal Directorate of Health Services last year.
The health care included screening for various diseases, eye tests, treatment of skin disease and talks on improving personal hygiene among others.
The new initiative which begun in 2018, was the brainchild of the Jirapa Municipal Directorate of Health Services.
Speaking to GBC’s Mark Smith on the sidelines of the 2018 Annual Upper West Regional Health Sector Performance Review at Wa, the Jirapa Municpal Director of Health Services, Florence Angsomwine explained that lack of well-structured health services for the aged, necessitated the organisation of movable health clinics for the aged.
”Jirapa Health Directorate in the year 2018 realized that the aged who were vulnerable did not have any well-structured health service rendered to them so we decided to render health services to them at the community level,” she explained.
The Jirapa Municpal Director of Health Services opined that after long years of service both in the informal sectors for the nation, the aged deserved to be treated with the utmost care and respect.
Madam Angsomwine added that community health nurses and other staff of the Health Service were sensitized to the need to give age appropriate care to the aged.
She explained that the health care for the aged had been structured to look like a day care centre, where the elderly could walk in or taken in by caregivers to receive health care.
She said “we mobilize the aged at the community level; we go there and talk to them about health. We just pick a health issue that will benefit them; tailoring our messages according to their needs. After talking to them about health, we talk to them about personal hygiene.”
To further improve the health of the aged, the Health Directorate organised workout sessions, to keep the residents in shape and healthy.
The Jirapa Municpal Director of Health Services added that relatives or caregivers of the aged residents were invited to stay so that they could appreciate and learn to take better care of the aged in the absence of health workers.
The day care centres also offer the opportunity for the aged in the society to meet their peers and former work colleagues and maintain healthy relationships with them as well.
Madam Angsomwine said although the Health Directorate was able to reach over 300 residents in selected communities, they hoped to reach even more elderly residents in all the communities across the Jirapa Municipality.
She however, expressed worry about inadequate resources saying “we want to extend out services to the other communities but the challenge is resource. We need fuel to go round.
They health workers are willing to volunteer to attend to these vulnerable groups. Other times we need other logistics like hair shavers, nail cutters and hand gloves among others.”
Madam Angsomwine said the screening along with diagnosis revealed a number of diseases among them.
They included diabetes, hypertension, malnutrition and skin infections due to poor hygiene.
The Upper West Regional Director of Health Services, Osei Kuffuor Afreh while addressing participants at the 2018 Annual Upper West Regional Health Sector Performance Review at Wa was excited about the new initiative taken by the Jirapa Municipal Directorate of Health Services and called on other districts and municipalities to emulate the initiative.
Story by Mark Smith
