Taking care and ensuring well being of our loved ones in India is always a worry for NRIs. By identifying needs and providing right resources for fulfilling these needs makes life much easy for you and your loved ones back in India.The journey of elderly care for NRIs is often paved with emotional hurdles, anxiety, stemming from the physical distance from one’s parents.Here are some recommendations for remote parental care. By implementing these strategies, NRIs can better manage the emotional aspects of taking care of parents in India from abroad, reducing the anxiety associated with distance. Remember, taking care of your emotional health is just as important as ensuring the physical well-being of your elderly parents.

Regular Communication

Make it a priority to communicate regularly with your parents through calls, video chats, or messages. This consistent contact helps bridge the physical gap and reassures both you and your parents of the mutual love and care. Utilize technology to stay connected, sharing moments and updates to foster a sense of closeness.

Planning Visits

Whenever possible, plan visits to spend quality time with your parents. These visits can significantly alleviate feelings of guilt and strengthen bonds. If direct visits are challenging, consider arranging for relatives or friends to check in on your parents, providing them with companionship and care.

Sharing Experiences

Connect with communities of NRIs who are in similar situations. Sharing experiences and coping strategies can offer comfort and practical advice. Engage in forums or social media groups dedicated to elderly care for NRIs, where you can find support and understanding from those who truly relate to your circumstances.

Build a Local Support System in India

For elderly care for NRIs, establishing a local support system is invaluable. This network, comprising relatives, friends, and professional caregivers, ensures that elderly parents in India receive comprehensive on-ground support. It’s about creating a community that can offer assistance, companionship, and immediate help when needed.

Power of Attorney

Establishing a power of attorney is essential for managing your parents’ affairs from afar. It allows you to make legal and financial decisions on their behalf, ensuring their needs are met without delay.

Medical Insurance

Ensuring your parents have comprehensive medical insurance is critical. It provides a safety net for unexpected medical expenses, reducing the financial burden on the family.To know more about Health Insurance policies available India, you can visit https://health.policybazaar.com/

Care Fund

Setting up a dedicated care fund for your parents can help cover their living and medical expenses. This fund serves as a financial cushion, offering peace of mind to both you and your parents.

Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act

Familiarize yourself with this act, which mandates the maintenance of senior citizens by their children. It underscores the legal obligation to support elderly parents, providing a framework for their care and protection.

Using Technology solutions

These solutions help the NRIs and their parents in various ways:

• Enhanced Safety and Well-being: Technology provides NRIs with tools to ensure the safety and health of their elderly parents, offering solutions that range from emergency response to daily health monitoring.
• Emotional Connectivity: Despite physical distances, tech-enabled care helps maintain strong emotional bonds between NRIs and their parents, ensuring they feel loved, cared for, and connected.
• Autonomy for the Elderly: With tech solutions designed to support independent living, seniors enjoy a sense of autonomy and dignity, crucial for their mental and emotional health. Cost-Effective Care: By reducing the need for frequent hospital visits and enabling early detection of health issues, technology can significantly lower the costs associated with elderly care.

Key Technological Innovations

• Health Monitoring Systems: Devices like smart bath mats and wearable sensors now offer real-time data on weight, posture, balance, and vital signs. This technology enables caregivers to detect sudden changes in health, ensuring timely intervention.
• Video Calls and Social Platforms: Video conferencing tools and social platforms tailored for the elderly, such as Gennev and ElliQ, facilitate regular communication with family and friends. These tools help combat loneliness and keep the elderly socially engaged, enhancing their emotional well-being.
• Online Medical Consultations: Telehealth platforms have revolutionized access to healthcare, allowing seniors to consult with physicians from the comfort of their homes. This is particularly beneficial for those with mobility issues or residing in remote areas.
• Smart Home Devices: From automated medication dispensers to smart home systems that control lighting, temperature, and security, technology is enabling seniors to maintain their independence and age in place safely.
• Activity Recognition Systems: Leveraging machine learning, systems like the Smart Energy Data with Activity Recognition (SEDAR) analyse routine behaviours and appliance usage to monitor the well-being of the elderly living alone. This unobtrusive monitoring can alert caregivers to deviations from normal routines, indicating potential health issues.

Seeking help from professional senior citizen support services

Key Considerations for Selecting Elderly Care Services:

• Assessment of Needs: Understanding the specific needs of your elderly parents is the first step. Consider their medical conditions, mobility issues, and the level of companionship and daily assistance they require.
• Quality of Care: Ensure that the care providers are reputable, with well-trained staff who can offer compassionate and professional support.
• Flexibility: The chosen service should be flexible enough to adapt to the changing needs of the elderly.
• Cost: While quality of care is paramount, the services should also fit within your budget.

Typical regular services required by senior citizens include:

• Doctor’s Appointment & helping for check-up, procurement of medicines etc.
• Pre-scheduled Hospitalization and post-hospitalization help
• Utility Bill Payment (Elec Bill / Tel Bill / Gas bill /Tax Bill etc.)
• Shopping (Veg / Grocery / Household Items)
• Accompanying to places as required
• Home Visits for sundry needs
• Bank / Post Office / Mediclaim / other official jobs
• Market Research for any third-party service or commodity
• Event Facilitation
• Caretaking of flats/apartments with regular maintenance and cleaning

Types of Elderly Care Services

• Home Care: Personalized care provided at the elderly’s home, including assistance with daily activities, medication management, and companionship. Promotes independence, comfort, and personalized attention.
• Nursing Services: Professional medical care by qualified nurses, including wound care, injections, and health monitoring. Ensures professional medical attention and peace of mind for family members.
• Emergency services: In case of medical emergencies, ambulance services for taking patient immediately to the identified group of hospitals.
• Old age homes: NRIs may choose to shift the parents to paid old age homes where all the necessary requirements of the parents would be taken care of.

 Some of the Elderly care providers are:

• Care24 – https://care24.co.in/
• Portea – https://www.portea.com/
• Samarth – https://care.samarth.community/

Some of the Elderly care old age home providers are:

• Elder casa – https://eldercasa.com/ – provides list of facilities in India
• Olive Eldercare – https://www.oliveeldercare.com/

Funeral & last rights Management

Antim Sanskar Seva is a service that helps the family of a deceased person in their most difficult times to perform the last rites and facilitate funeral arrangements and transportation to the cremation site with decorum and dignity.

The services include:

• Provides guidance and facilitate funeral preparation as per the religion / community
• Transportation facility from hospital to home and to crematorium
• Identifying of priest to facilitate last rights
• Getting all the material required for last rights
• Provides dead body freezer or morgue services till all the loved ones could arrive for funeral services
• Documentation and death registration help
• Arranging for organ donation as per wishes of deceased
• Arranging virtual funeral services thru video conferencing tools to ensure long distance family members can participate in the funeral services
• Arranging for post funeral rituals (like asthi visarjan, pinddan)
• Arranging for condolence meet
• Arranging for obituary in the newspapers
• Custom clearance/X-ray at airport
• Documentation Clearance at IGI Airport for export and import of human remains.

In case of death taking place outside India, there are the steps that need to be taken for getting the remains in India:
To transport a dead body from a foreign land to India, need to get the Indian Embassy or Consulate involved for assisting with the transportation and necessary paperwork.

Here’s are the steps needed:

1. Notification and Registration:
   • Notify the nearest Indian Embassy or Consulate about the death of the Indian national.
   • Register the death with the Indian Embassy or Consulate. This usually requires a medical report/death certificate, a police report (if applicable), and consent from the next of kin.
2. Obtaining Necessary Documents:
   • Death Certificate: Obtain a certified copy of the death certificate, preferably in English, and sometimes requiring a translation.
   • Embalming Certificate: The body must be embalmed and placed in a hermetically sealed (airtight and water-proof) casket. An authorized agency must issue an embalming certificate.
   • No Objection Certificate (NOC).
   • Obtain an NOC from the Indian Embassy or Consulate for the transportation of the mortal remains.
   • Other Documents: Depending on the circumstances, you might also need a police report (if the death was accidental or unnatural), a copy of the passport, and potentially a certificate of packaging as per WHO guidelines.
3. Public Health Clearance:
   • Ensure the dead body meets the public health requirements for international transport.
   • The airport health officer will review the documents and ensure the body is properly packaged and transported.
4. Transportation:
   • The Indian Embassy or Consulate may assist with arranging the transportation of the mortal remains back to India.
   • In some cases, the employer of the deceased might be responsible for covering the costs of transportation.
   • If the employer does not agree, the Indian Community Welfare Fund can be used to cover the expenses.
5. Insurance and Other Assistance:
   • If the deceased had an insurance policy that covers repatriation, the insurance agency may handle the transportation.
   • You can also register for assistance with bringing back the dead body on the Ministry of External Affairs website.
6. e-Clearance for Afterlife Remains (eCARe) Portal:
   • The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has introduced an eCARe portal to streamline the process of clearing human remains.
   • This portal allows for online submission of documents and tracking of the clearance process.
7. Consent letter from next of kin of the deceased for local cremation / burial / transportation of mortal remains, duly attested by a notary
8. Copy of passport & visa pages:
   1. Important Notes: 

• • The specific procedures may vary from country to country. It is recommended to contact the Indian Embassy or Consulate in the relevant country for specific guidance and assistance.
  • In cases of unnatural deaths, the process might take longer due to local investigations

Some of the funeral management providers are:

• antimsanskars – https://antimsanskars.com/
• Sukhant Funeral – https://sukhantfuneral.com/
• Swargayatra – https://swargayatraa.com
• Funeral services – https://www.funeralservices.co.in/