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| Sunday, 05 March 2006 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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'To a better land I know': Peace of mind in sunset years by Aditha Dissanayake Know what a hospice is? Something to do with socks and stockings? A dish served as an appetizer? No. The first is called hosiery and the second, horse d'oeuvere. A hospice, (I confess I had to look it up in the OED) is a home for people who are ill (especially terminally).
Instigated by the Capt. Wijewantha Foundation, the hospice provides medical and health care for the sick, the infirm and the terminally ill older people in the low income groups of the Southern Province. Talking about the Foundation established in memory of his son, Captain Anuruddha Wijewantha, killed in the North East war, in Thapur, Trincomalee in 1991, N. W. E. Wijewantha says he believes by transferring his ancestral home in Akuressa to establish the memorial foundation, he has tried to transfer his grief on the death of his son, and later his wife Kusuma, into a mountain of love and kindness to the community. Recalling the events of the late 80s and the early 1990s, he narrates how his eldest son, Anuruddha, though he was selected to enter university, had opted to join the Sri Lanka Army as an officer cadet of the Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Regiment. Having swiftly moved up in rank, he had refused to be transferred to Colombo, in 1991, wanting to dedicate his services at the battle front which had ended with his death in Trincomalee. "In defeat he was victorious and the cause he fought for has given us the courage to endure and this foundation is a result of it" says Mr. Wijewantha. Realising the importance of responding to the needs of the older people in our community, the total of which is estimated to rise from the current 10% to 25% in 2050, the Hospice thus begun by the Foundation in 2005, functions according to the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Southern Provincial Council, which has agreed to provide medical personnel, nursing staff, medicine and equipment, while the Capt. Wijewantha Foundation provides the other services i.e meals, electricity, water, sanitation and the other essentials. In addition, Helpage Sri Lanka too has stepped into expanding this concept of providing free medical care and shelter to destitute older people, by building Hospices in the other provinces of the country. Contacts have already been made to open Hospices in the Eastern and Northern Provinces. If all goes well, there will be a Hospice soon, in every province, to provide the much needed free institutional medical care, bringing peace and contentment to those who deserve it the most - those who have now reached the sunset of their lives. So, lets hope when you are "old and grey and full of sleep", there will be a Hospice close by, to help you relax and let you dream "of the soft look your eyes had once..." What better way than this to log off? |
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Bravo, if you knew the answer already. But have you ever heard of a
hospice in Sri Lanka? Where? Hundred and fifty kilometers from Colombo, in
Maramba, Akuressa. 
