body-container-line-1

FOA And LO/FTF Council Of Denmark Support Elderly Care In Ghana

25.10.2017 LISTEN
By Jerry Detse Mensah-Pah

In its bid to ensure its principle of solidarity beyond its borders FOA in partnership with LO/FTF Council all of Denmark is through SOSU-C also of Denmark has empowered the Health Services’ Workers Union of TUC Ghana to organize and train Ghana’s largely unorganized elderly care sector.

This empowerment programme which is funded by FOA and LO/FTF of Denmark is coordinated by LO/FTF Council West African Sub-Regional Office based in Lome-Togo and implemented by Health Services’ Workers Union of TUC-Ghana is in three fold.

Firstly, the programme is to equip a selected few cadres of the HSWU with requisite skills to be able to train and organize Voluntary Care Givers that are untrained and unorganized within Ghana’s Health Sector.

Secondly, the programme is to develop a standardized Curriculum and Training Manual to be used to train Elderly Care Givers. In this phase the draft Training Manual will be experimented on eighty Care Givers across the length and breadth of Ghana. In this case Ghana has been divided into three sectors namely Western, Southern, Northern-West and the Northern sectors. In each of these sectors 20 participants will undergo training on the draft Training Manual. These training series will afford the relevant stakeholders to evaluate, validate and finalize the training manual to be used by the trainers.

Thirdly, the Health Services Workers Union will in this phase based on the finalized manual shall roll out training programmes as well as devise advocacy strategy to propagate issues of critical concern to the elderly and engage duty bearers to prioritize the welfare of the elderly.

To Ms. Liliane W Napoe, International Adviser in charge of Programmes at the LO/FTF Council West African Sub-Regional Office based in Lome-Togo, her Organisation is very convinced that the training programme is a strategic tool for change. She has therefore charged beneficiaries of the programme to make good of the investment made and endeavour to see to the successful implementation of the programme.

The Deputy General Secretary of the Health Service Workers union of TUC Ghana, Brother Franklin Owusu Ansah said the this programme will go a very long way to augments the strides the Union is making in the welfare of the elderly. He said the support offered by FOA and LO/FTF Council to the Union enhances the Union’s plans to organize the large segment of potential unorganized members within Ghana’s large informal economy.

The Training Manual focuses on Personal Hygiene for Care Givers; Care for Bedridden; Communicating with the Elderly; Nutrition; Medication; Occupational Health and Safety, and Physical Exercise for the Elderly.

body-container-line