Our Eureka Moment

The pandemic had hit everyone hard. The first few weeks were joyous since we believed this was a temporary phase that would soon give way to regular routine. But as Lockdown 1.0 gave way to 2.0 and subsequently 3.0, it had clearly started taking a toll on the mental health of people. Ironically, staying at home had become the routine and we were simply waiting for things to get back to normal. The press and the media began talking about the effects of isolation on children, teenagers and young adolescents. But nobody seemed to worry about senior citizens.

Aren’t the retired folks always at home, irrespective of the lockdown? What difference would this shutdown make to their lives? Until a survey by Agewell foundation changed the entire narrative.

Of the 5000 elders surveyed across India,

• 71% reported that elderly abuse had risen due to Covid lockdown.

• 56.1% said they experienced disrespect, verbal abuse, silent treatment, denial of basic needs/support and emotional exploitation.

• 79% agreed that the elderly face mistreatment primarily due to financial reasons.

All elders echoed the same – across towns and cities, across societal and financial classes. It then made sense as to why the demand for retirement homes and assisted living facilities was on the rise.

There are a lot of elders who live alone or with sulking families, with or without illnesses, which leaves them very vulnerable.

Columbia Pacific Communities, which caters to 1,600 families across nine facilities in Bengaluru, Chennai, Kanchipuram, Coimbatore and Puducherry, has seen a four-time increase in applications, specifically for immediate occupation. A very prominent concept abroad, independent senior living is slowly taking roots in the Indian subcontinent. Over 4500+ units have come up in the last few years and more & more elderly are looking to move to such retirement homes, which has simply been accelerated by the Covid pandemic. The lockdown has amplified fears of isolation, falling ill, and the need for external caregivers, making the idea of a retirement home or assisted living community attractive.

Note that these homes are in no way close to the infamous old age homes, meant for the poor, needy, unwell or those with no financial means.

The new ones are luxury living centers (literally) and the habitants usually pay a hefty amount for their stay, either through rent or via purchasing the property. In principle, these centers are a mix of real estate, medical facility and community wellbeing. It provides for a healthy, comfortable and a worry-free lifestyle in a community of like-minded people.

Upon some basic research, we realized that finding the right care home for oneself or for one’s parents isn’t easy. There isn’t one source of true, consolidated information that people can use to compare these facilities.

It’s like finding a boarding school for your children – no matter how badly you want your kid to go and learn the vagaries of life, you also want to ensure they enjoys their stay.

A lot of guilt, fears and societal shaming is involved in making this decision – for the seniors themselves and for their families. And the added inability to access the right information at the right time, exemplifies the stress by downplaying the importance and availability of such services. We realized this was a genuine problem that needed to be addressed and began gathering evidence to convince ourselves of the same. Thus, began our journey to understand in detail, the challenges of our prospective clients and the potential customers…