NHSC

A picture of the Contact Centre at the National Helpline Office - Karnataka

Rest of Karnataka: Elderline 14567

India has witnessed an exponential growth in the population of the elderly over the past couple of decades. At present, about 13 crore people, who are above the age of 60 years, constitute over 9% of the country’s total population. As per various research documents, this number is expected to cross 32 crores by 2050, which would then constitute almost 20% of the population. Statistics indicate that the demographic shift is going to be a huge challenge and new models of services will need to be developed to address the needs of the elderly in rural and urban settings.

A study was conducted to understand and assess the need of the elderly, the existing helplines in the country and also some international helplines for senior citizens. Based on the study, the need for a helpline at a national level was recognized by the government of India. This is to be a single platform that would enable services both in the urban and rural areas with a strong backend of information aggregation of all the service providers and empathetic people to talk to the senior citizens.

Based on the past work and experience of Nightingales Medical Trust, we have been chosen by the Government of India to run this Helpline for the state of Karnataka in association with the Government of Karnataka.

Vision: To facilitate happy and healthy ageing by serving the senior citizens of India, compassionately.

Mission: To make a positive difference to the lives of senior citizens by creating a reliable National Helpline which acts as a platform for redressing the grievances of the senior citizens of India, by providing necessary information and intervention through a collective of highly committed partners including Government agencies, non-profits and volunteers.

Objectives:
• To reach out to every senior citizen of the country to provide support and guidance.
• To disseminate information on Government schemes and programmes for the welfare
of senior citizens.
• To provide a platform to facilitate queries related to implementation of Government
Programmes.
• To provide a grievance redressal mechanism for senior citizens.
• To build up hope and trust amongst the senior citizens, and help them age happily.
• To understand the various requirements of senior citizens, and, create necessary policies and implementation mechanism.

1) Connect centre:
A centre for handling calls relating to senior citizens, with all the necessary infrastructure for call recording, analysis, and follow up, with database of information relevant to the elderly, and other technology for effectively supporting the callers. The connect centre handles all the calls relating to information, counselling and guidance, resource linkage, follow up calls, and other telephonic assistance.

2) Field Response Team:
All calls that require direct interventions for the elderly are handled by the Field team. The team collects details of all agencies / resource persons /organisations who can support senior citizens. The team also connects with senior citizens who need in-person support. In addition, this team meets senior citizen associations regularly and conducts meetings / outreach programmes. These are managed through a local Field response officer and network of NGOs working in the locality, resource persons / organisations in the locality, community based groups, volunteers and state actors.