Durban’s elderly left alone and afraid as Tafta struggles
FEAR, loneliness, and unrelenting anxiety. That’s what many elderly people face daily, with many sitting in self-imposed isolation as the coronavirus lockdown continues.
This week, Tafta (The Association For The Aged), which provides a home for thousands of elderly and frail residents across Durban, called on corporates to support them in what has been a financially dire year for most non-profit organisations.
Tafta CEO, Femada Shamam, made the appeal for help on Thursday, saying she was worried about the future of the organisation and the people it helped.
Shamam said Tafta desperately needed funding for a 64% shortfall, and the estimated deficit for 2021 would be about R26 million, up from R22, which is usually made up in fundraising and investment programmes.
This shortfall in care costs is after pension contributions and subsidies from the Department of Social Development.
“We are continuously trying to fundraise through other means, including online appeals and online fundraising drives and we are extremely grateful for the support of our individual givers, as corporate, trust and foundation giving has been severely impacted.
“We have also braced for the impact of severe cost-cutting measures, but as an NPO (non-profit organisation), we are certainly concerned about the future of our services in the current climate,” said Shamam.
She called on corporates and funders to “dig deep to help the aged in our care”, as they battle to close the funding deficit. This follows “a dramatic drop in state and donor funding and an accompanying increase in Covid-19-related expenses”.
“We are appealing to those corporates which are able to assist, to please reach out to us to help meet the financial demand of elder care,” said Shamam.
There have been strict lockdown rules in place for the 5500 residents in Tafta homes across the city, but despite this the first case in a Tafta home was identified in June 2020.
Shamam confirmed that since then, they had recorded 135 positive elder cases and 47 positive staff cases.
“Sadly we lost 22 elders and an outsourced staff member. A further 108 have recovered and we have now finally
reached a point where infections have dramatically dropped to just five cases.
“Nevertheless the second wave hit us over the festive season with a force we were honestly not prepared for, as we were working with skeleton staff as a result of the holiday period, while we also had staff struck down by infection,” said Shamam.
Meanwhile Tafta’s senior social work manager, Melaine Pillay, who has 30 years experience in the field of social work, said Tafta’s team of social workers have had to be innovative in finding solutions for distressed residents.
“We have not been trained on how to deal with a pandemic and we have had to be creative and unique in finding ways to help our residents.
“It has been heartbreaking for us to see an elderly person in a mask with a walker or in a wheelchair, somehow it makes them more vulnerable.
“The instinctive thing is to reach out and touch or hug, but we have to stay at a distance,” said Pillay.
“There are some older persons who have become so fearful that they have wilfully isolated themselves from friends and neighbours for fear of exposure to the virus. This has caused them to mistrust each other and has broken bonds which they have built in their latter years for safety and security. Sadly, some of these individuals have found security and safety in being separated from others – a choice which can affect a person’s emotional well-being as we are social beings who depend on each other for companionship.”
“The fear associated with the slightest symptom is exacerbated because of their comorbidities – they become over analytical with a slight chest pain and can easily assume the worst case scenario,” said Pillay.
When an elderly person is either suspected or diagnosed as being positive at Tafta, he/she is moved to an isolation room.
“There is separation anxiety because they have to move to a room where their familiar items and furniture are not present and this contributes to their lack of a sense of belonging and identity,” she said, saying social workers would move familiar keepsakes into an isolation room to try and increase familiarity.
“Many of our elderly are socially savvy and exposed to the ‘infodemic’, which can bring about fear, mistrust and confusion. We have been forewarned and have become very fact based when providing them with information.”
And for her own team, Pillay said: “We have to wear a mask and mask our fears, but we have to count our blessings, we have survived every day of this. We have had to find a sense of purpose for our residents and we have had to be more patient with their frustrations. But not one of my staff has said they feel burned out.”
For more information on assisting Tafta, contact Nirupa Kasserchun on email: nirupak@tafta.org.za