Private nursing care home for the Aged established in Accra

Mrs Mercy Attor, Chief Executive Officer of Mercy Mission Care, over the weekend said research has shown that a majority of the aged in the country were abandoned by their relatives.

She said this causes a lot of anxiety for the aged resulting in some of them getting psychologically traumatized.

Mrs Attor made this known to media men during a tour of her Mission care Centre located on the Spintex Road in Accra.

The mission home was established two years ago and registered with the Registrar General Department and the Department of Social Welfare, as well as the Ledzorkuku Municipal Assembly.

She said the mission provides a 24 hours skilled and Live-in Nursing Care, Personalized Companion Care, Delicious and Nutritious meals, Outdoor Recreational Activities and Physical, Spiritual and Psychological Care and has a 14 bed capacity.

Mrs Attoh said Mission is the first of its kind in the country, which also provides the needed services to keep the worries and stress level of relatives of aged persons down.

She said the Mission takes care of the aged who normally are left at home alone when their caretakers leave for work, adding that, some relatives cook for their aged parents and then lock them up in their room alone, whenever they go out, which does not their wellbeing.

Mrs Attor said she developed the passion to cater for the aged after taking care of her mother and father at their old age and the psychological therapy needed, and that, the home currently has four aged parents who are regularly examined by a visiting Doctor and Nurses, as well as visiting Pastors who give spiritual support to them.

She said inmates chooses the three daily meals of their choice, which also goes with the Doctors advice on what they should and should not eat in order to keep strong and healthy.

Mrs Attor said care homes are not well patronised in the country because Ghanaians have the perception that taking your aged parent to care home was a way of running away from their responsibilities, which is not so.

She said the aged were like kids and always needs an eagle eye to look after them, adding that, they need company most of the time to chat.