‘Take care of your elderly’
The Department of Social Welfare and Development 6 is urging families and relatives of the elderly people to take an active role in handling their welfare and health.
DSWD 6 Director Minda Brigoli said that families should provide for their health needs and housing.
The elderly should be respected by the community as much as their own children and nearest of kin, she said.
Brigoli said it is better if the children themselves are hands-on in looking after their aging parents.
She pointed that the elderly who are living with their families tend to have happier disposition and healthy lifestyles.
Brigoli said that she will direct social welfare workers to check into the conditions of the elderly in various communities, hospitals and health facilities, especially those that are being supported by the DSWD, to see if they are given proper care.
The DSWD said that it currently coordinates with the Office for Senior Citizen’s Affairs to help identify senior citizens who need more help.
They will also help in the census of actual number of senior citizens in the region, as part of DSWD’s program for the elderly.
Brigoli said that DSWD will try to look for additional support to the senior citizens.
Earlier this year, DSWD released some P45 million worth of cash subsidy to indigent senior citizen’s in the region. Some of which were given to some 3,143 indigent elderly in Iloilo City.
There are around 100,000 senior citizens in Iloilo province.*PNA
