THE Palms Geriatric Home, on Friday, hosted its annual church service in commemoration of ‘month of the elderly’ under the theme “Digital equity for all ages”.
Month of the elderly is celebrated in October each year to honour the many contributions made by the elderly.
Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Vindhya Persaud, told residents that their contributions are celebrated.
“We celebrate your contributions; we celebrate life and we celebrate everything that you continue to do to inspire us and inspire our world…. We’re incredibly, incredibly proud of what you would have done for our country, for our home, for our family, for communities,” the minister said.
The minister reiterated that it is the job of the ministry and the Palms Geriatric Home to ensure residents are comfortable and in good health, and are able to enjoy the amenities made available to them.
With the pandemic causing so much havoc in the world, the minister proposed having electronic tablets available for the residents.
“Maybe it would be a good activity to have tablets here at the Palms, to get you trained on how to use the tablets so that you can connect to the rest of the world…. So, I want to propose this, I want to challenge the director to let us have someone come into the Palms and teach you how to use those tablets, so that you can travel to various parts of the world virtually.
You can connect with whoever it is you want to connect but you can move with the technology of the time and enjoy everything that life has to offer you,” the minister said.
She presented tokens of appreciation to 106-year-old Zhorie Dematos and 105-year-old January; the two oldest residents of the facility.
Meanwhile, retired probation and social services officer, Aggrey Azore stated that the facility caters to the overall development of the residents.
“We are catering for their total development, their physical development, which also includes their medical care, their nutrition, so we can enhance their well-being, their mental, emotional and social well-being and of course I would hasten to say that we are offering them psychological support,” he stated.
The institution ushered in the Month of the Elderly in style as the church service featured prayer, songs, poems and dance. Some items were performed by residents of the Palms.
