They are the elderly, our elders. It is their right - they who enveloped us with the warmth of their breasts when we were small and spread over us the abundance of their love when we were young - it is their right that we should care for them in the autumn of their days, that we should repay them some of their giving, preserve their dignity and secure their needs, in a home that may not be the home they knew but which holds within it all peace and reassurance. It is Dar Al-Aman for the elderly, which Al-Mabarrat Charitable Association wanted to be a radiance of hope on the path of attending to the elderly person. To shed light on this home, its services and its offerings, we held a meeting with the director of the health department at Al-Mabarrat Charitable Association and director general of the Dar Al-Aman Hospital for the care of the elderly in the town of Abbassieh in the south, Professor Asaad Haidar.
Professor Haidar says: “Al-Mabarrat Charitable Association established this hospital in the town of Abbassieh in the Tyre district so that it should be a humanitarian project caring for the elderly who do not find a safe shelter and a warm family atmosphere, as well as lacking basic health services. This is a charitable endeavour that the founder, the late Allama Marja' His Eminence Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah (may God be pleased with him), wanted to be a heartbeat of love for the elderly human being, in a way that guarantees him his health and his balanced growth.”
He adds: “The late Marja' Sayyed Fadlallah visited this home in 2007, three years before his departure, to stress society's attention to the elderly, embracing them, speaking with them about their problems and their causes, and about what they hope for from life in the autumn of their lives.”
On the hospital's services Haidar says: “In the hospital there are 80 elderly people, to whom we provide intensive and specialized health services, therapeutic services, recreational trips and visits to places and religious shrines. We also provide them with rooms that have the necessary equipment an elderly person needs, and there is a specialist doctor who supervises the daily nutrition and takes account of what the specialist physician requests, according to each elderly person's health file.”
On the home's most prominent facilities Haidar points to: “the existence of a palliative care unit comprising 4 beds for critical cases, and a diagnostic centre that includes: radiology, mammography, ultrasound imaging, ECG and psychological tests. The home also includes a centre for physiotherapy, psychotherapy and hydrotherapy, a sports club and a pharmacy; and there is also an infection control section supervised by a specialist in infectious diseases.”
And are there services the home provides outside its premises? He answers: “We provide the elderly with the service inside their homes, in terms of primary health care, providing medicines and food, and financial and in-kind assistance. A doctor, a nurse, a social assistant and a psychological assistant carry out examinations and give health, social and psychological guidance to the elderly and to relatives about how to deal with an elderly person. The number of beneficiaries of this service has reached more than 120 elderly people, distributed over 11 towns in the Tyre district.”
On the criteria for accepting an elderly person into the home Haidar says: “An elderly person who has reached 64 years undergoes a social investigation to learn about the social and living conditions in which he lives, in addition to getting to know his family so as to take sufficient information about his situation, as well as obtaining their agreement to his entering the home. The elderly person's health condition is also verified by recording his medical history and the medicines he has taken during his life, in addition to an assessment of his psychological state - all of this to help in securing the necessary treatment and in securing a sound, safe environment.”
On the home's financial reality the director of the health department notes that: “Our financial resources consist of aid from inside and outside Lebanon, governmental and non-governmental assistance and offerings, as well as donations, gifts, alms and religious dues, in addition to legitimate revenues and rights owed to the centre by others. Neither the elderly person nor his family is asked to pay any financial charge for residing at the centre, but they are asked to secure the particular necessary medicines. It should be noted that the home receives all kinds of financial and in-kind donations, and most often contributions are made by sponsoring an elderly person at a value of 1,000 US dollars annually.”
Asked about the community's embrace of Dar Al-Aman, the home's director answers: “There is a volunteer committee composed of 18 members from among society's figures, which carries out activities outside the centre whose proceeds go to the centre's offerings, and also carries out numerous social activities. This committee has an administrative body composed of six members chaired by the president of Abbassieh municipality, and it aims at supporting the home and assisting it morally and materially so as to develop its resources and improve them. The home also constantly receives supportive delegations from the local community and from the villages, as well as university and school students; and there are many expatriates and businessmen who donate regularly so that the home's work in serving the elderly may continue and so that they do not become among the forgotten.”
