St Bess seniors keeping active through clubs

The Government recognises the importance of facilitating and providing assistance to senior citizens by establishing various programmes and services to meet their needs.

One such initiative is the establishment and enablement of senior citizens' clubs that provide opportunities for socialisation and recreation as well as access to essential services and resources.

In St Elizabeth, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, through its National Council for Senior Citizens (NCSC), has been committed to promoting senior citizens' clubs as well as improving the well-being and quality of life of members. Parish Organiser of the NCSC in St Elizabeth, Marieck Hendricks-Morgan, told JIS News that the entity has been instrumental in meeting the demands for the long- and short-term care services of these groups.

There are 15 active senior citizens' clubs within the parish, according to Hendricks-Morgan.

She noted that through technical support from the ministry, in collaboration with other stakeholders, clubs are able to carry out various humanitarian services for residents more than 60 years old, including shut-ins and the indigent, on a weekly and monthly basis.

"Senior citizens are persons who have set the foundation, and oftentimes they are neglected, and so it is great to have something like these clubs in place where persons who are in need can look forward to," Hendricks-Morgan said.

"It is also important because [these clubs] provide something that the groups look forward to... social integration and participation. It provides that platform for persons to come together and to socialise," she adds.

As the parish organiser, Hendricks-Morgan helps to provide guidance for the mobilisation of the appropriate resources to facilitate and support initiatives and programmes in which these clubs are engaged.

The government's framework of the National Policy for Senior Citizens advocates enhancing the self-reliance and functional independence of senior citizens as well as facilitating continued participation in their family and society.

One of the more active clubs in the parish is the Balaclava senior citizens' group, which is attached to the Balaclava Baptist Church.

The club has more than 10 members who meet every Tuesday to prepare and deliver wholesome warm meals to some 100 elderly, shut-in and needy persons.

Beneficiaries are not only from Balaclava but other neighbouring districts, such as Oxford, Castleton, Union and Russell Hill.