Maloney gets a Senior Activities Centre

The centre, which would be managed by Maloney Women’s Group, is situated next to a pre-school and the police post. It will be a multi-service facility to help and serve senior citizens around the country. Some activities to be offered include cooking, gardening, classes in computer literacy, health programmes, handicraft and field trips.

Coordinator of the Maloney Women’s Group, Barbara Ince, said the idea of creating the Senior Actvities Centre came from interaction with her grandmother who died at the age of 101. The group, she said, started in 1989 with the introduction of an annual luncheon, catering for 46 senior citizens in Maloney. The last luncheon recorded 150 attendees.

Ince said the Maloney Women’s Group formally started about two years ago inviting women in the community to participate in various ventures including, hosting Emancipation and Mother’s Day celebrations, providing lunches for senior citizens and an Easter bonnet parade to be held on Glorious Saturday. Ince said that a few men who had joined the group have even covered a course in shoemaking. She said that the centre is presently looking for a vehicle that can accommodate senior citizens and specially challenged residents in wheelchairs.

Dr Jennifer Rouse, Director of Division of Ageing, Ministry of Social Development said that it was time to get rid of negative stereotypes imparted on Maloney. She said the opening of the centre was only phase one of the Government’s social development programmes for the nation. Phase two, she said, would include assisted living facilities, home care and adult day programmes.

Minister of Social Development, Anthony Roberts, told Newsday, at present there are over 130,000 persons over the age of 60 who need to be catered for because of their tremendous contribution to the development of our society. “At least in the sunset of their lives we ought to ensure that they are comfortable,” he said. Roberts said that the major problem with the aged is loneliness and the centre provides for interaction with others. He said another programme to be taken before Cabinet shortly is “Meals on Wheels,” where senior citizens would be provided with at least one meal a day. Roberts told Newsday that within the next month, the Ministry of Social Development would be opening a series of Mediation Centres around the country in order to facilitate dispute resolution outside the courts.

Vocalist, Ewart Serrant, treated the guests to his own versions of memorable calypso renditions from yesteryear.