Thiruvengada Nagar Residents Welfare Association at Ambattur Old Town has added another feather to its community do-gooder cap, by having all the 40 octogenarians in its database vaccinated. The significance of the exercise is that the RWA liaised with the UPHC to arrange for door-to-door vaccination of many senior citizens over the last three months.
Four long-time residents of the neighbourhood — K Savithri (85), C V Sivagaminathan (82), K Vijayalakshmi (79) and Padma Rao (75) — are said to the “trendsetters”, being quick out of the blocks in getting their vacinnations done.
“We always keep in touch with residents and enquire about them, especially the health of senior citizens, which made it easy to coordinate the ‘doorstep vaccination’,” says S. Suresh, secretary, Thiruvengada Nagar Residents Welfare Association in Ambattur.
Recently, the third vaccination camp was conducted at its office in the Ambattur-Venkatapuram Cooperative Society premises, with more than 100 residents including those from adjoining areas Vivek Nagar, Nehru Nagar and Satyapuram turning up for it.
The Association building has served as venue for all three vaccination camps that benefitted more than 1,200 residents. The association also got 12 conservancy staff to take the vaccination.
“Organising a camp in the neighbourhood exclusively for our residents is of immense help to senior residents, especially those with diabetes, as they did not have to spend much time waiting and be late for lunch,” says V. Krishna Rao, a long-time resident of Ambattur. For Thiruvengada Nagar residents, the nearest PHC is located near the Government Girls Higher Secondary School at Venkatapuram in Ambattur.
Divided into 138 plots, the Thiruvengada Nagar was formed as a residential neighbourhood by the Ambattur - Venkatapuram Cooperative Society in 1962-63 with around 150 families. The Society was formed by what was then called Madras Corporation in 1925 to benefit local residents. The locality has 10 streets, two main roads covering a population of 1,200 families.
95 and vaccinated
Ninety-five-year-old K. Ambujam Sundarain became the senior-most resident of Thiruvengada Nagar to get the jab. It was her first dose. Her daughter, Padma Rao (75), who takes care of her, got her second dose at the same time.
Once Ambujam gave her consent to take the vaccine, Padma Rao connected with office bearers of Thiruvengada Nagar Residents Welfare Association and the Greater Chennai Corporation to get her mother vaccinated.
Old age and the location of their house on the first floor of an apartment complex were the challenges.
Says Ambujam, “I have never said ‘no’ to my daughter all these years. I decided to take the vaccine to make my daughter happy; and she is, now.”
