Seventy five year old Pyari Gameti, lived with family in a small mud and cement house in Majawari village of southern Rajasthan. She received a monthly government pension and would walk to the local PDS outlet to collect her 5 kg wheat allowance each month. A few months ago one day, she suddenly felt dizzy, vomited and then collapsed. Her son found that she had fever and immediately rushed her to a private hospital nearby, where she received treatment for a week. During this time she could not recognise her family members. A day after returning from the hospital, she lost sensation in her legs and could not walk. She had to drag herself on the floor to use the bathroom. After a few days, Rekha, Block Health Care Coordinator of ARTH’s programme for older persons, met her on a round of the village. She advised Pyari and her family members to apply hot compresses to her legs and slowly stretch them from time to time during the day. Pyari began to do this diligently, while sitting on her bed. She started to feel a change after 3-4 days – although her legs would barely move in the beginning, she was determined to get better and continued applying hot compresses and moving her legs as well as she could. Over the next two months, her legs began to stretch and she was able to rise up and stand, first with the support of a stick and then on her own.
Rekha additionally conducted a home assessment to gauge the risk of falls and general convenience for an older person. She found that the flooring at entrance of the house was very uneven – this was later levelled by her family. With some more guidance and encouragement, Pyari was ultimately able to start walking slowly. Her story tells us that simple manoeuvres combined with will-power can enable an older person to mobilise after illness, thereby improving health outcomes without requiring complex facility-based visits for treatment.
According to a study by Devi and co-workers, women engage in self-care practices more than men, but this tends to decrease in both, with advancing age1. With more of India’s population ageing due to demographic transition, health issues are increasingly expected to impact older persons. It is necessary to enable older persons to pursue a path of healthy ageing to prevent health issues in the first place, and to use appropriate self-care to recover from illness. A wellness focus on one’s health would eventually lead to fewer clinic visits and reduction in the cost of health care.
– Snehal Sinha (ssinha@ccr.arth.in)
1Devi RS, Pandian S, et al. (May 15, 2025) Assessment of Self-Care in Promoting Healthy Aging Among the Elderly in Rural Areas of Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu. Cureus 17(5): e84171. DOI 10.7759/cureus.84171