In addition to the health services we offer every Thursday during clinic hours from 9 am – 2pm, we also provide services in the form of home visits. Our nurses provide high-quality home care by giving seniors easy access to holistic medical care that enables them to live a healthy, safe, and comfortable life.
On May 16th, 2017, we had a Community Health Fair at our office in Bodija, Ibadan. The fair consisted of health screening and awareness, diabetes education, blood pressure monitoring and healthy nutrition education.
On July 4th, 2016 our nurses had their first orientation session that was coordinated by our Director of Nursing. Glory be to God it was a very successful day.
By Santos Akinloye Africa Correspondent, Miracle Touch Nursing
The truth is that it’s really hard for most seniors to acknowledge that they need help when it comes to matters concerning their health. When they reach the point of assistance, they are often confronted with their own limitations. In most cases, these limitations worsen over time. But the elders often sound it aloud that the duty of the young is to provide for the seniors. As depicted in this Yoruba sayings, “Bi okete ba dagba, omu omo re ni mun” meaning, when a grass-cutter gets old, it survives on the support of its children.
Africa used to be one of the world’s best places to grow old. Old age was regarded as a blessing, and the elderly revered as sacred as the link between the living and the ancestors, the holders of wisdom and culture. Believably, most Africans shudder with horror at the thought of placing old relatives in nursing homes.
But, today, times are changing, and for the elderly, radically so. The growing influence of western style education, free-market economy (globalization) and accelerated migration has virtually crippled the traditionally known extended family care system. In other words, the African traditional forms of caring for the older people are breaking down. Older people are often excluded from development programs by the government, and likewise discriminated against by services such as health care.
In Nigeria, the National Health Insurance Scheme [NHIS] excludes the care for persons above 60 years. Even if you are part of the scheme, once you retire from government employment, your health insurance policy expires. In many other African countries, there are no dedicated hospitals or health care center that caters specifically for the elderly. All these have led many Diaspora Africans to take their seniors abroad, not minding the consequences.
It is common knowledge that remittances being sent home by Diaspora Africans are huge. Many economists believe that these remittances exceed what the continent receives in the form of foreign aid from foreign donors in Official Development Assistance [ODA]. This shows that the Diaspora Africans really care about the people back home not just in their words but in their deeds as well. These allowances are often are majorly used to support aging parents.
Despite the contribution of Diaspora Africans and throngs of retirees to the economy, senior people in Nigeria and in most African countries still experience deepening poverty, discrimination, violence and abuse. Even, the retirees are unable to access entitlements that are rightfully theirs. But, should we allow our senior to suffer? Remit money for a specific purpose without getting the desired result? Or find out that the remittances are mismanaged or embezzled? Without any doubt, the whole some answer is definitely no.
Fortunately, our quest is to make life easier and stress free for the elderly in Africa. Hence, we are introducing to you our service-focused home health care service that is modeled in helping seniors stay in their homes affordably. Our services are focused on the following providing skilled home healthcare workers, such as Registered Nurses to assisting the elderly in all areas pertaining to managing their health in the comfort of their homes.
It is a known fact that home healthcare is now viewed by many as a viable alternative to lengthy hospital stays. Also, seniors today show a propensity towards in-house healthcare rather than old people’s home or assisted living facilities. Miracle Touch Nursing stands out among the senior care franchise on the African continent because of the quality of its experienced and well-trained nurses. At MIRACLE TOUCH NURSING, helping the elderly stay in their own homes affordably is more than a business, its our passion. We invite you to navigate our website for more information and resources.
By Elizabeth Ajamu RN, MSN
The definition of old age is not agreed upon in many places across the globe. The standard of living and the environment plays a role in the numerical age and the biological age. In western countries old age is usually defined based on the age of retirement which spans from the age of 60 (WHO,2015). According to Togonu-Bickersteth, old age is affected by many factors such as a person’s cultural belief system (1987). Whichever the definition, we know that the population of older adults is increasing drastically in developing countries, it is projected by the World Health Organization that the elderly population in developing countries is expected to increase by about 240%.
The need to help is paramount in this population. There is a barrier to seeking health care providers. In a survey of 1,125 elderly done in Nigeria, a developing country in Africa, from June to August of 2004, about 69% of respondents had never visited health facilities, and the other percentage of those who did only saw the doctor about once a year. Medical doctors were the least seen health care providers, this is not alarming because the main barrier in this study to seek health care is poverty and level of education. The health care providers that were commonly sought were “trained nurses, community health extension workers, and village health workers” (Abdulraheem,2007). The survey found that poverty increased the use of family home remedies and patent drug sellers (Abdulraheem, 2007).
The mission of Miracle Touch Nursing (MTN) is to provide high-quality nursing care by giving the aging population better access to holistic nursing care that enables them to live a healthy, safe, and comfortable life. In addition, we provide health awareness, clinical-care, and supportive home health services. MTN understands that the lifestyle of the elderly is changing and this is because their children are moving into the urban areas and they are often left behind in rural communities to fend for themselves. Our goal is to support them and connect them with community resources that is affordable for their health needs. We want to teach and educate them so that they engage in healthy practices that will provide them with a better quality of life.
According to the World Bank Development Prospect Group Report in 2012, remittance to developing countries was $351 billion in the year 2011 and it is expected to grow at an increasing average percentage of about 7.5% yearly. Remittance to Nigeria from abroad alone in 2011 was $11 billion, the highest in Africa. World Bank Report continued to say that these recipients depend on this money for their health, education, survival, and livelihood (2012). A lot of these resources may be misused and sometimes not reaching its appropriate recipients due to different interpersonal issues between family members who may keep the funds for themselves and not for its rightful usage. Issues like these have been seen firsthand by the founders of Miracle Touch Nursing. We want to help those African immigrants who need to have their elderly taken care of. There will be no more middleman. We will take care of your elderly loved one and make sure that the care you want for them is appropriately delivered.
