On 27th February 2020, Fleurenville had the honour of being visited by Dr K.R. Gangadharan, founder of the Heritage Medical Centre, a private geriatric healthcare facility in Hyderabad, India. Dr Gangadharan approached Fleurenville management in early 2020 as he was interested in seeing our facility and learning more about our care model. This level of interest from an overseas expert in further entrenches the Fleurenville care approach as a world class model for aged care.
The Heritage Foundation in Hyderabad has four aged care facilities in the city and offers home care for the elderly who prefer to live in their own homes. Due to land constraints, the facilities are all multi-storey buildings, with no opportunity for residents to enjoy the outdoors and gardens. Their Geriatric Medical facility was established in 1994 and specialises in caring for those with geriatric conditions. At the same time, they started training street kids and youth from poor neighbourhoods in bedside care for the elderly.
Dr Gangadharan is globally renowned for his knowledge and experience in aged care and has served as Global President of the International Federation of Ageing (IFA) for three years. He represented India at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) which formulated regional action plans to commemorate the International Year of Older Persons. He also serves on various ministerial committees, including the formulation of courses for geriatric training and is a member of the Core Group on Welfare of elderly citizens constituted by the National Human Rights Commission. In 2015 he was involved in the development of the Global Strategy and Action Plan on Ageing and Health by the WHO in Geneva.
During his visit, Fleurenville and Dr Gangadharan discussed various aspects of aged care and concluded that there are many areas where collaboration would be of mutual benefit to our organisations. “He was in awe of the spacious and luxurious accommodation, quality of nursing care and variety of activities offered to residents,” says Cobus Locke, Fleurenville CEO. “Fleurenville is preparing a list of topics for cooperation between Fleurenville and the Heritage Foundation for consideration between the two parties. A follow-up discussion has been planned and it is envisaged that an Action Plan will be drafted soon.”
