About Us

The Project

We deliver primary and specialized at-home elderly care in response to vulnerabilities seen and expressed by elders, family members, and even ASHA workers, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

To do this, we developed an independent home health aide / geriatric care services mechanism (similar to that of the Anganwadi workers for children, and ASHA workers for women), but one that is by design integrated into the main healthcare system.

This initiative will help mitigate various age-related sufferings through home health medical aid and provide at-home delivery of other senior citizen services converging various government schemes for elders thus providing a sense of identity, dignity, and independence to senior citizens.

Approach to Our Work

We believe in impact through grassroots-level community mobilization, engagement, and empowerment efforts. In applying this to SEHAT SEVA, we mobilized our staff and volunteers to engage with the community, medical professionals, and the local administration to identify collective motivations and community needs before creating a five-year plan. The following information was found through qualitative and quantitative data collection, in the form of interviews and surveys:

  • The elderly account for approx. 12% of the total local population
  • While children have Anganwadi workers, and women have ASHA workers, the elderly do not have dedicated care workers
  • The elderly do not wish to travel to hospitals, as they find it laborious, tiring, and painful.
  • The elderly don’t want to add a burden on family members, which results in silent suffering.
  • There is a need for specialized elderly care workers and skilled nursing assistants to facilitate care at home
  • Five main areas of geriatric care and medical support needs were identified:
    1. Mobility issues and pains;
    2. Metabolism and digestive system;
    3. Heart and lung care;
    4. Hearing, sight, and teeth;
    5. Memory, depression, and mental health issues including feelings of identity and belonging

Five-Year Plan

2020-21

  • Need assessment and problem shaping
  • Solution formulation

2021-22

  • PHASE 1: Solution validation and demonstration (grassroots-level proof-of-work) in 03 PANCHAYAT CLUSTERS with 30 SEHAT SEVA volunteer workers

2022 -23

  • PHASE 2: Scaling up to and integration with the existing healthcare system at BLOCK-level in 03 BLOCKS (60 PANCHAYAT CLUSTERS) with 300 SEHAT SEVA volunteer workers

Figure 1: Phase 2 PANCHAYAT CLUSTERS

2023-25

  • PHASE 3: Replication and scaling at DISTRICT-level
  • Set up 300 SEHAT SEVA Kendras (in 300 PANCHAYAT CLUSTERS) with 3000+ SEHAT SEVA volunteer workers

Figure 2: Scaling from Phase 2 to Phase 3 (DISTRICT level)