Meaningful life: I Gede Patra, the founder of Sada Jiwa, believes the elderly have much to share with younger generations.

One facility for the aging is trying to change the image of typical panti jompo (elderly people’s homes), inviting senior citizens to half-day and full-day programs where they can make friends, develop hobbies and interact with children.

Long life can be a great gift when elderly people are in good health and surrounded by family, but old age can also be lonely and confusing when illness strikes.

In many advanced countries, there are senior citizens’ clubs, dedicated aged care residences, visiting nurses and community support networks such as Meals on Wheels, which organizes volunteers to provide meals for seniors.

In most cities in the archipelago, the needs of the aged are usually left to families to address as the elderly want to stay close to their children and grandchildren, but changing demographics where many young adults work outside the home have left some elderly people vulnerable and alone.

Making friends: At Sada Jiwa, the elderly develop new friends and hobbies such as origami.

Recognizing the changes in Indonesian society and unmet needs for the aged, I Gede Patra established Sada Jiwa, an aged care residence with outreach programs that welcome elderly people to the center, in Mengwi, Badung.

“Back in 2006, I was doing a short course in hospital management in Japan and the training hospital had a facility for seniors. I saw that health problems for the aged were managed very differently to Indonesia,” said the former director of Tabanan public hospital.

Citing panti jompo, the housing system for the elderly provided by cities’ social agencies, which provides accommodation for elderly people without families, Patra said aged care in the country needed reinvigorating to serve the nation’s senior citizens.

”Here we have facilities for the elderly called panti jompo. These homes do not have a good image, because elderly people without family are placed there. In other situations, the elderly may be practically jailed there,” he says.

Inspired by his visit in Japan, Patra is trying to change the face of aged care in Bali through holistic services that not only support good physical health for the aged, but also mental, spiritual and social health. When he returned to the island, he provided extensive land for the development of Sada Jiwa to ensure local Balinese and others had a dedicated health and well-being centre to ensure the healthiest and happiest old age possible.

“In Japan, I saw much better facilities for seniors and I felt this would be good for Bali,” Patra said.

Hand control: Two elderly men color in pictures. Simple and fun games such as coloring can improve hand to eye coordination for the elderly.

Sada Jiwa invites elderly people to day programs where they can meet friends and develop hobbies, and also offers respite care where seniors can stay for a night or longer, offering relief to families caring for the aged.

“Through hobbies we can see the health status of our clients. Take coloring for example, if people are coloring outside the lines, they may have hand control problems. We believe while clients are playing, we can see health issues that may need to be addressed,” Patra said.

He underlined that Sada Jiwa focused on the overall well-being of its members, caring for varied needs.

“Most of our clients have quality-of-life issues. They may have physical problems and here we can retrain them with physiotherapy or sometimes with psychological counseling. Sometimes the elderly feel they are no longer useful and can become depressed, so we must support their mental well-being as well as their physical state,” he said.

Patra said many families that are busy with work and daily life often had no idea how to keep their aged parents happy and active, although such activities are important for the elderly.

“When we are children, we learn to play. Now as older persons, our clients learn to play together again, which gives them exercise and social interaction,” he said.

He also welcomes elderly people from his Mengwi community to the center free of charge as part of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) program.

Patra said people over 60 years old accounted for 11 percent of Bali’s population, giving the island the third highest population density of aged people in the country. Their health, he said, should not only be seen in terms of treatment, but also illness prevention and health promotion.

“I hope into the future there will be a facility like this in every district of Bali. There are many clinics in Bali, which, with training, could offer these services.

Patra and his team welcome grandchildren to the center every Sunday, enabling the elders to share their knowledge and interact with youth to boost their feeling of value to society, which he believes is critical for mental health and positive self-esteem.

“One of our programs is an empowerment program where clients can share their previous life experiences. They can share their knowledge and still feel of value to society in our intergenerational program that brings together grandchildren, teenagers and grandparents,” he said.

This is a place where elderly people’s dignity can be restored and they can rediscover a zest for life.

— Photos Courtesy of Sada Jiwa

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