During the Covid-19 pandemic, it is more important than ever to create opportunities for elderly members of the family to enable healthy ageing. While most Asian families like to take care of their elderly relatives by themselves, in today’s work culture where working from home is as demanding as being at the workplace, taking care of ageing parents can be a challenging task. Asian Voice spoke to prominent members of the Asian community in the UK to get a sense of their perspective towards the necessity of care homes.
Distinguished social activist Kanti Nagda, MBE believes that within the British Asian community there used to be a stigma attached to care homes 20-30 years ago, but not so now. He said, “Having lived in the UK for 40-50 years, we now feel that care homes are a necessity and not a luxury. This is especially so because both husbands and wives must work to have a comfortable life. Elderly parents need to be looked after and it would be difficult for them to take time off work and support them. So it is essential to have these facilities in the UK. There are several care homes that cater to religious and dietary requirements specific to our community, so it is now accepted that this is the best way forward. While children can go and visit their elderly parents, they are assured that their parents are offered high quality care 24 hours a day. People who I know that went to care homes are much happier because they are with the same age group.”
Dr Dharmendra Tripathi who is a GP, shared his views about the necessity of care homes from a medical perspective. He said, “When a person has paralysis, you don’t know how to pick them up and you don’t know how to feed them. You don’t know what their physical and mental needs are.” But he feels things have changed. “ There are several people from an Asian background in care homes today. The stigma attached to it is fast disappearing. People more willingly go for it now,” he added.
A report titled “An Ageing Population” published by Lord Dolar Popat states that, “Fairness within generations is also important. It does not seem fair to expect today’s younger taxpayers to pay more for the increased costs of an older society while asset-rich older people are protected.”
Reflecting on that sentiment, Dr Tripathi said, “One of the issues is funding, because it can be expensive. It could roughly cost around a minimum of £700-£800 a week. Not many families can afford that. Yet, there are families who can afford it and the government also offers support towards the cost. But the government cannot look after everybody. So, people can make part payments. If a parent has dementia and you’re not around, they could just walk out of the house and get lost, or they could burn themselves from a kitchen appliance by accident. It’s a risk and nobody is there 24 hours to take care of them at home. Care homes look after them really well, right from their breakfast to dinner with a wide choice of food. They are also bathed and cleaned properly by trained staff. We’re not immortal. Most of the people who go to care homes, go for good, till the end of life. They don’t go back home. Their families visit and take them to Gurudwaras, Mosques or Temples. If you must look after an elderly person at home, you need a separate room and bathroom, or a bathroom made for disabled patients. Care homes cater to all that.”
Mary McGowan from Nottingham Care Village and Ocean Breeze Car Home, Purico Limited who hasn’t had any Asian residents in her care home of late said, “From what I have seen in Asian families, if possible, they’d like to take care of their parents at home and I think that’s the nature of their culture. They sometimes move around family members from country to country, say, six months in Canada, another six months in the US or UK. Families take care of them that way.”
In a year such as 2020 when there is less room for social stigma and when there are more pressing issues related to health, Lord Popat’s report makes a suggestion. It says that a good way to bring generations together is to connect local nursery schools with care homes. According to the study, such interactions positively benefit both age groups, and relationships are therefore what matters to us all in the end. As we approach our later years, the report suggests that we need opportunities to build strong and supportive relationships across generations.
