JAKARTA — Still in the series of commemorations of Hari Lanjut Usia Nasional (HLUN) which is commemorated every May 29, Dompet Dhuafa through the Free Health Service or Layanan Kesehatan Cuma-cuma (LKC) held an elderly health screening. This action took place on Tuesday (6/6/2023), at the Tresna Werdha Budi Mulia 2 Social Institution, Cengkareng, West Jakarta, involving 342 elderly beneficiaries.
The elderly are residents of the TWBM Social Institution who live in Wisma Mangga, Wisma Pisang, Wisma Durian, and Wisma Jeruk. Other parties who attended and were involved in this event included the West Jakarta City Administration Government (Pemerintah Kota Administrasi Jakarta Barat) and its staff from the Health Office, Social Services, Cengkareng District, West Cengkareng Village. In addition, Agent of Change (AoC) cadres and dozens of health workers were also involved in conducting health screening for the elderly.
The events began at 07.30 WIB by conducting brain gymnastics and gymnastics simulations together led by dr. Astrina Yulda as Senior Advisor for the Elderly of the Dompet Dhuafa Health Division. After that, the elderly participants were invited to eat fruits and drink milk together.
Firmanudin Ibrahim, Assistant to the West Jakarta City Administration Government on his occasion to open the HLUN commemoration event, said that the commemoration of this elderly day is a preparation for the young that they will also enter old age.
“Hopefully, with the elderly program carried out by the collaboration of various parties, elderly fathers/mothers can continue to be healthy, independent, and dignified,” he said.
To the cadres and health workers who actively guide the elderly, Firman advised to continue to prioritize patience. Then, the cadres must also have broad insight because these elderly come from different backgrounds. So, maybe the treatment of each individual is different.
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Senior Advisor for the Elderly of the Health Division of Dompet Dhuafa, Astrina Yulda in her speech also conveyed that Dompet Dhuafa as a partner of the Indonesian Ministry of Health Directorate of Productive Age and the Elderly, has been travelling around Indonesia for the past 4 years to carry out briefings for AoC. He said the number of elderly currently reaches 10% of the entire population of Indonesia, while the BPJS budget is spent on the elderly as much as 25%.
“We don’t want to be elderly who spend the BPJS budget. We must be SMART elderly: Healthy, Independent, Active, Productive, and Dignified,” exclaimed the woman familiarly called Mother Ririn to the elderly.
She continued that elderly have many abilities. The elderly are a group that can be patient, have a lot of experience, and are very considerate of others.
“So don’t let the elderly be behind anymore. The elderly must remain in the front row,” she said.
In line with that, Erizon Safari as the Head of the West Jakarta Health Office, said, as with the hope of the Indonesian Ministry of Health and also Dompet Dhuafa, currently, the government’s focus on the elderly is how they can continue to live healthy, independent, active, productive, and dignified lives.
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“The government certainly cannot do this alone. So we would like to thank Dompet Dhuafa for the collaborations established so far. There are still many things that we can do together because the problems also vary, especially in the psychological aspects of them (the elderly),” he said in response to this event.
In West Jakarta, he continued, there are many social institutions for the elderly. However, the largest is in the Tresna Werdha Budi Mulia 2 Social Institution. So he hopes this collaboration with Dompet Dhuafa can be a model for other institutions.
Until the time showed daylight, as many as 342 elderly people who participated in this event had been successfully screened for health. As a result, it will later become a guideline for health workers and social workers to provide subsequent actions.
In the health screening, the elderly in the event room were directed to participate in a material session presented by Imelda Theresia and Lelly Milawati from the NGO Alzheimer Indonesia. (Dompet Dhuafa/Muthohar)