In October 2013, when a senior member of our community at Mantri Synergy passed away, her relatives found it difficult to organise the funeral. Hiring a mobile morgue unit to keep the body of the deceased lady at home until the funeral the next day, was especially challenging.
At that time, there weren’t many residential complexes in Padur. Mantri Synergy was one of the few residential units in the locality, and undertaker service providers weren’t found nearby. Moreover, it was a Sunday, which compounded the problem.
After much effort, an ice box was hired and the body of the deceased was brought home from the hospital.
The family faced considerable difficulty trying to procure other necessary items such as wreaths.
The following week, another senior member of our community passed away. The deceased’s elderly wife could only turn to the community for immediate assistance, as their children were not residing here.
A helping hand
Having gone through a funeral less than a week ago, members of the family of the other deceased reached out to this family. Now, the former had all the contacts ready at hand; all arrangements for the funeral were made in a couple of hours, even before the children of the deceased gentleman arrived.
Having gone through two demises in quick succession, we realised it would be beneficial to the community if we formed a voluntary group of people who would reach out to others in times of such crises.
That is how the Synergy Medical Emergency Team (SMET) was born.
SMET comprises adults between the ages of about 30 and 50, who are not medically-trained, but are ready to come to the assistance of any resident of Mantri Synergy, who is unwell and unable to reach a doctor or hospital, or requires other emergency assistance, such as that which prompted the birth of this group in the first place.
Numbers published
All the mobile numbers of these volunteer-members are published on the noticeboard of each apartment block, and residents are encouraged to keep these numbers at hand. In case of an emergency, all they have to do is call a volunteer on the list and that person will inform the entire group via WhatsApp, of the emergency. Whichever volunteer can be reached quickly will respond immediately and assist the person in whatever way possible.
Our community has about 650 families. Many of these families consist of senior citizens whose children live abroad or in other parts of the city. Hence, it is a source of comfort for them to know that there is a group of people they could reach out to in a crisis, and who would ensure that the immediate emergency requirements are looked into and addressed.
There have been so many instances of timely assistance being given to residents. Many children of elderly residents who have been helped by this group of volunteers have openly conveyed their appreciation. After this initiative was started and word got round, many more volunteers came forward to be part of the group.
The efforts of this volunteer group was formally recognised by one of the former management teams of our residents’ association. They presented SMET with a stretcher, a wheelchair as well as first-aid kits, at the Independence Day celebrations in 2014.
(Anuradha Nair is the vice-president of Mantri Synergy Owners’ Association)
