Help the Elderly do it today
No elderly should suffer in silence!
It all began with a phone call…
Back in early 2015, a phone call to Bharat Times triggered a well of emotion. An elderly couple from India, who were visiting Australia at the time, were being thrown out by their own children. The elderly couple had to come live with their children who had settled here and had wound up everything in India. “We didn’t realize that our own children, after taking everything we had from us, would turn their back on us… where can we get some help… we will have no place to stay tomorrow morning…”. The elderly man was unable to stop choking on the phone, telling their sad story. The news from India of some really graphic cases of neglect and abuse of elderly had hit home harder and gave us the reason to establish a volunteer service called Help the Elderly.
The group was formally organised in 2016 when Melbourne based Indian community publication Bharat Times provided resources and leadership in January 2016. Five years on, we are a group of volunteer professionals – lawyers, sociologists, mental health specialists, community leaders who give their valuable time to deliver help to our elderly.
If we had our way, all our elderly will live their lives the way they want to live, not suffering in silence.