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Sikhs set up forum to help
seniors avail full range of services
WSN Network
FREMONT: There has
been a great need in our community to assist our seniors in
accessing City provided services. Due to lack of knowledge and
better understanding of the American system, we could not deliver
the proper help that our seniors required. Infact, until now this
need was not even felt so deeply in our society; it has been kind of
ignored, sadly. Although, it is seen at Fremont Gurdwara that a
small group of senior volunteers have been providing help to handful
of seniors with limited resources, at least it is better than
nothing. Seniors, who are vulnerable and homebound, need assistance
the most.
Our goal is to reach
out to the whole senior community who have either immigrated here
recently or have been here for a while but struggling to have their
needs met due to language and cultural barriers. Often times
adapting to new lifestyle at this age is a very difficult
experience, leaving behind the comfortable life and friends to join
their adult children. Many times, leading to depression, and
isolation. They have to rely on their children for many things, such
as: to fill necessary forms; take them somewhere, either to the
doctors, a friend, or the Gurdwara, etc…. Often times they have to
wait for long time due to their children’s busy schedule.
Even though their
children try to provide for their needs, they forget that their
parents need more than food and shelter. They need their self
esteem, independence, security and respect they well deserve.
Let us, adult children not forget that it is because of them, their
hard work and sacrifices that we are where we are now.
The Sikh community
of Fremont is fortunate to get the opportunity to assist our seniors
in accessing the wide range of services made available to them by
the city. A group of 4 individuals (ambassadors) from our community
have undergone a 32 hour training at the City, learning about
services available and how to access them through a program called
the CAPS program.
Community Ambassador
Program for seniors (CAPS)
In March 2005, the
City of Fremont Human Services Department was privileged to have
received a two-year grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The City and six partner organizations, including the India
Community
Center,
Muslim Support Network, Sikhs Engaged in Volunteer Activities,
Taiwanese Senior Help Association, Centerville Presbyterian Church,
and Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, developed a program
called the Community Ambassador Program for seniors.
CAPS has been
developed to build capacity to serve seniors in their own
communities, in their own language, within their own cultural norms,
and will do so where seniors live, worship, socialize and learn.
Each
organization has recruited a site coordinator and 4-5 volunteers. In
September, 27 volunteer ambassadors completed a 32 hour training by
the City of Fremont. These ambassadors have been trained to provide
information and referral services to seniors and their families on
local resources, programs, and services, and may be able to answer
questions related to locating transportation and housing options,
assistance understanding qualifications related to benefits such as
social security, Medicare, and Medi-Cal, or general questions
related to healthcare and legal concerns.
The three South
Asian community partners, the India Community Center (ICC), Sikhs
Engaged in Volunteer Activities (SEVA), and the Muslim Support
Network (MSN), are working together and offer language capacity in
Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada,
Konkani, and many other Indian languages.
For more
information, contact Community Ambassadors:
-
India
Community Center
- Pragna Dadbhawala at 408-934-1130 ext. 263 or email
tcec-caps@indiacc.org,
-
Sikhs Engaged in Volunteer Activities – Jagmeet
Kaur at 510-491-6699 jagmeetk26@yahoo.com
-
Muslim Support Network – Moina Shaiq 510-574-2082,
or
-
Call the City of Fremont’s Senior Helpline at (510)
574-2041 for assistance.
The service is free
of charge. Ambassadors are also acting as advocates to help improve
the system of care by educating the mainstream service providers to
cater to specific needs that may be important within their own
cultures. Also part of the grant funding, a “How To” Guide is being
created by the India
Community Center
for new immigrant seniors.
The 4
trained volunteers involved for now are: Kashmir Singh, Surinder
Kaur, Ranbir Kaur, and Jagmeet Kaur. We hope that seniors and their
families will take advantage of this great program.
Kick
off on Dec 9, Workshop on 16th
Please
join us for a KICK-OFF event to be held at Gurdwara Sahib Fremont on
December 9th, from 1-3 or
2-4pm. On
Dec 16th, 2007, there will be a workshop
for seniors (60 plus age) at Gurdwara Sahib Fremont from 1:00 pm to
4 pm. Details of health benefits and other type of resources
available for seniors will be shared here.
5 December, 2007
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