Nestled in the serene hills of the Nageshi village near Ponda, Sanjeevan is a unique medical rehab centre for senior citizens. A centre, which operates on the lines of a halfway hospital and has been providing succour to hundreds of senior citizens since the year 2003.
Founded by social worker, Asha Sawardekar (76) under the aegis of the Society for youth development (SFYD) trust, Sanjeevan is a two-storied building which comprises neat and clean rooms. There are at least 50 senior citizens staying at the centre, half of whom are bedridden with varied medical ailments. The centre is well equipped with two doctors, 16 lady nurses working in shifts, a full-fledged kitchen providing the inmates with nutritious meals and a day-time administration staff. The senior citizens are charged a monthly fee between Rs 6,000-Rs 10,000 depending on their needs and nature of ailments.
A recent visit to the centre revealed happy faces among the patients. Rekha Phene, a 90-year-old patient said, “Ashatai is our aadharstambh ( pillar of support). She is both our mother and our father.” While octogenarian, Revati Kudaskar said, “Ashatai and Sanjeevan have provided us with security, support and happiness.” Kudaskar even sang a Tukaram abhang to drive home the point. Most inmates seemed to have a similar opinion about Asha Sawardekar, the centre’s founder.
Sanjeevan, which could arguably be the only institution of its kind in the state, allows senior citizens to recuperate from fractures, falls and minor mishaps for periods ranging from three to six months. Of course, there are a few Alzheimer patients here, who are staying for longer durations at the centre.
Ashatai’s tryst with social work began in the early sixties when as a young, law graduate she began working with the social service agency, Provedoria. She set up children day care centres ( balwadis) and old age homes in the state. Ashatai married Kirti Chakra awardee, Wing Commander VB Sawardekar in 1967, a marriage that gave her two lovely daughters, but was short lived. Her fighter pilot husband died tragically in an air crash in 1972.
Despite the tragedy, the doughty Panjim woman, winged herself to the UK to pursue a masters in social welfare in 1974. Armed with the degree, she grabbed a tailor made job with the state’s Rural development agency (RDA) in 1975 and in a 20 year stint with the agency, pretty much wrote the story of her life.
As a RDA coordinator, Ashatai travelled the length and breadth of Goa and worked in all the villages of the state. This allowed her to understand the problems and challenges of the villagers from up close. “I noticed that the school drop-out rate of the girl child was particularly high in the villages. This prompted me to start a trust called the Society for youth development (SFYD) in 1978,” recollects Ashatai.
The SFYD began by offering courses in tailoring, embroidery and doll making for village girls to enable them to earn a living. Quoting the popular Chinese proverb, Ashatai says, “When you give man some fish, you satisfy him for a day. But if you give him a fishing rod, you make him happy for life!’ According to her, this thought has summed up her own philosophy about life.
Meanwhile, the home-nursing course started in 2000 for village school drop outs became instantly popular. It provided Goan village girls with employment in the many homes across the state, where the old and ailing needed a helping hand. According to Ashatai, in just six years, close to 5,000 people were served by the SFYD’s home nurses. This is how the idea for Sanjeevan, the senior citizens’ medical rehab centre was born.
Today, Ashatai leads Sanjeevan from the front. It is clearly her baby. She lives in a simple room on the campus and eats and drinks with her patients. Mornings are spent in the office, attending to visitors, telephone calls and administrative paper work. You can see the easy camaraderie and bonhomie she shares with the senior citizens at the centre, as she walks through the rooms and corridors of the centre.
It is clear that Ashatai is a visionary. Sensing that home nursing was just the beginning, she started a two-year, higher secondary course in nursing for both girls and boys in an adjacent premises two years back.
Today, the nursing junior college is in high demand and there are as many as 80 girls and a few boys getting trained in basic nursing. “This is the third year of the two-year, government approved vocational course. Students who complete this course can pursue a three year degree in nursing and physiotherapy or alternately work in polyclinics and nursing homes immediately,” says Ashatai.
As I walked away from the centre, with the sweet tune of Florence Nightingale’s pledge sung by the nursing students ringing in my ears, I knew that Asha Sawardekar had created a legacy in her own lifetime.
For more details on Sanjeevan visit: www.sanjeevangoa.com