NEWS of Columbia Pacific Communities

Dussehra is known to be an Indian festival that celebrates the triumph of good over evil and the prevalence of good over bad. Indians all over the world celebrate the festival with great enthusiasm and fanfare. However, the celebrations are going to be different this year, due to the pandemic. With 7.31 million COVID cases already in the country and the number of cases rising every day, it’s important to prioritize safety over anything else this year, and with that as the key message, Columbia Pacific Communities, a senior living operator, has launched a 10-day Dussehra campaign titled Dussehra Wisdom. The wisdom comes from residents of Columbia Pacific Communities, who attempt to highlight the importance of following COVID-19 protocol such as staying indoors, maintaining social distancing, continue to build your immunity, and most importantly, wearing a mask. India has the second highest number of COVID-19 cases, after USA, and has already surpassed Brazil. However, with the economy opening up, people have become less cautious of the virus, leading to rising cases across states. Conceptualised and created in house, this campaign is an attempt to remind people that the war against COVID-19 is far from over. And we should be socially responsible and particularly think of the most vulnerable demographics to the virus – infants and seniors, even while we embrace the festive spirit. Speaking about the campaign, Piali Dasgupta, Senior Vice President – Marketing, Columbia Pacific Communities, says, “The seniors in our communities are a source of infinite wisdom. The pearls of wisdom disseminated through the nine days of Navratri come from them. And it is their humble appeal to everyone to stay protected and maintain COVID-19 protocols during the festive season to ensure infection levels are in check. This year, the evil is the virus. And the only thing that will help us win the fight against it is good sense of people. Through shareworthy posts on digital media, we want to spread this important message of public health.”  

Every year on 16th October millions of people around the world will gather at marathons, exhibitions, concerts and marches to observe World Food Day. This year gatherings would be different due to coronavirus but we should remember the cause of World Food Day. Initiated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) it is one of the most celebrated days of the UN calendar. More than just casual arrangements of celebrations, World Food Day is organized to bring awareness to how our changing planet influences food creation and distribution. Related events explore several topics such as examining how agriculture needs to adapt due to climate change or how migration affects food security. The objective of these meetings is to define objectives that will inevitably prompt structure a Zero Hunger Generation. On a clearer level, World Food Day activities give instructions to people on ways they can change basic day to day habits and choices to make any difference. Related activities assist people with understanding the significant worldwide issues, for example, poverty, and climate change that impact the world’s food supply and distribution. More than 150 nations participate in this event, facilitating numerous events to celebrate and promote World Food Day. Food is our basic necessity and everyone should value food. If we eat healthy and avoid wasting food then most of the problems will get solved. As a human being, we should be thankful for our each and every meal. World Food Day – Encouraging Healthy Diets According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, now there are more obese people present in world than malnourished. The biggest risk factor for disability and death worldwide is unhealthy diets and sedentary lifestyles. Food diversity is reducing, which means that the food supply is more vulnerable to climate change, and environmental damage from farming animals for meat and dairy is increasing. For World Food Day 2019, the FAO is calling on everyone to eat a healthy and sustainable diet. However, many people lack the knowledge, resources or motivation to eat healthy diets. To mark World Food Day, let’s take a look at some of the opinions from experts and try to learn from them. Patrick San Francesco, A world-renowned energy healer and internationally recognized humanitarian, philosopher, teacher and inventor from Goa, India “The most important need of humanity is food and water. Instead of devoting one day in the year to “World Food Day”, EVERY day and EVERY mealtime should be devoted to food for humanity. Keep this in mind as you sit down to your next meal.” Mohit Nirula, CEO, Columbia Pacific Communities   “A lot can happen over coffee” is the brand tagline of the country’s largest coffee chain. Espousing the values of a social get together, the Spanish philosopher, Bernard-Paul Heroux said, “There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice cup of tea”. Meals and mealtimes have, besides nourishing the body, played the additional and equally important role of bringing people together in a social event that also nourishes the intellect and the soul. In fact, from farm to fork, food has always brought people together. Whether it is in kitchen gardens or family run farms, cooking for the family or cooking as a family, food cooked and served in temples and gurudwara langar or foods especially developed to be eaten with friends – biryanis, paellas or even the garden barbeques, group meals and cookouts as a team building activity – food is as good an excuse as there can be to create and foster social interaction. At Columbia Pacific Communities, a celebration of any kind is always over great food. And it is indeed the ultimate glue that bonds people. Our communities are home to passionate foodies who generously share heirloom recipes with everyone. So, on World Food Day, it is only correct that we acknowledge and appreciate the role food plays in building communities and cementing relationships.

#Marketerleads Talk purpose is to bring you some great conversation with leading marketers. In this episode, We had an interesting conversation on Brand Positioning and Market development with someone who is working on a unique concept – Senior Living Community which is pretty new in India. Meet Piali Dasgupta, Sr Vice President, Columbia Pacific Communities, a multi-award winning marketing and communications leader with cross-category experience across e-commerce, retail, and real estate with cultivated skill sets in strategizing brand positioning, customer segmentation, PR, content strategy, digital marketing, performance marketing, etc. She has worked with top conglomerates like Times Group, Myntra, Amazon, and Publicis Groupe. Bagged prestigious awards like Woman Marketer of The Year 2020 at MCube Awards (Masters of Modern Marketing), she is one of the top 10 Content Marketing Leaders in APAC by CMS (Content Marketing Summit) Asia and also featured in Social Samosa’s list of Top 40 Marketers under 40. Piali Dasgupta Sr Vice President, Columbia Pacific Communities Creating Strong Brand Positioning in your Market What is brand positioning? What would be your recommended tips for it? Marketing is built on the fundamental principles of STP (Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning). Hence, Positioning becomes one of the most important cornerstones of a successful marketing strategy. Simply put, positioning refers to the ‘position’ a brand occupies in a customer’s mind when compared to all other brands in the same space. Therefore, in a red ocean industry (ie, in a known market space), it is important to understand the competition that exists in the same space and accordingly builds a uniquely differentiating identity for your brand that will help it stand out from the rest in the customer’s mind. My first recommendation for any established brand would be to understand the target market and the target audience. Once this has been analyzed, it’s prudent to do a perceptual brand mapping exercise to understand how customers perceive your brand in comparison to competing brands. Remember, brand perception is owned by the customer and not by the brand, and this realization is important. Once the results of the perceptual brand mapping are in, decide what is it about the positioning of the brand that needs sharpening or changing, and then work towards amplifying that specific value proposition. Brand positioning can’t just be built on product proposition, particularly in extremely competitive markets where most products end up having similar attributes. Positioning needs to, therefore, be a combination of product proposition and brand image attributes. For example, if you look at a brand like Allen Solly, it built its positioning around “Friday Dressing” offering stylish yet comfortable apparel to the young generation of office goers who prefer to wear casuals to work. With its “Friday Dressing” proposition, the brand succeeded in a highly cluttered and competitive market changing the perception of the brand from a workwear brand to a smart casual fashion brand that was the preferred choice of clothing for the always-on-the-go young generation who did not want to wear stiff formals to work nd it all happened through augmenting the value proposition of the brand and changing the communication around it. What would be your preferred set of media buying? There are two factors that come into play when one plans media buying. Reach and frequency. And therefore, it’s usually advisable to look at a 360 degree, holistic media planning strategy, particularly for emerging brands in emerging categories such as ours, as, unlike established brands in established categories, we need to work harder to raise awareness. Traditional media such as Print and TV offer great reach, but given that they are expensive, a lot of brands may not be able to ensure the desired frequency for their messaging. As a brand, we have adopted a digital-first approach for both our brand and performance marketing efforts as the cost of acquisition of customers is low and the desired frequency achievable. We have experimented with television, outdoor and offline/BTL events, but have not seen great ROI on these channels. As far as the senior demography is concerned, in terms of traditional media, nothing beats print even today as seniors do like to start their day by reading the newspaper. A large number of them watch television, and so that’s a great medium as well for both reach and frequency when it comes to targeting senior citizens. However, given that ours is a real estate product and hence geo specific, we don’t spend heavily on television as it leads to wastage. As for digital channels, our focus has been on Facebook as the primary channel for brand communication in the digital sphere. For demand generation, we use affiliate marketing, emailers, Youtube, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Whatsapp especially is a channel that seniors use heavily and it is a great platform to connect with them. Seniors are late adopters of technology. Having adopted it quite late, most of them appreciate the many boons of it. Moreover, we use digital platforms such as Instagram to address our secondary target audience, ie, the children of senior citizens who are looking for a solution for their parents. As a brand custodian, what are the top metrics a brand is measured on? There are a number of metrics that brand health is measured. Brand health is usually tracked every quarter, and sometimes a brand lift study is also carried out by brands to measure the impact of a robust 360-degree multimedia campaign. Brand health is measured across PR, digital, and social media channels and also through primary research channels. Some of the metrics that a brand is measured on through primary research channels are: Top of Mind Awareness Net Promoter Score Prompted and unprompted brand recall, depending on how new or established your brand is Brand Strength Purchase Intent Score –  measured on a Lichter scale Brand equity Digital channels and PR: Sentiment analysis of a brand on social media, Average time spent on site, Share of Voice Senior Living Community is a relatively new concept in India. How do you promote this? Yes, senior living as an industry is at a nascent stage in India. However, it is a sunrise industry, the potential for which is immense. There are several challenges in this category, starting with a deep-rooted stigma attached to “sending parents away” to senior living facilities and a large section of the population mistaking senior living communities for “old age homes,” which they are not. So, what we realized very early on is that there is a strong need to change audience perception on the category and turn detractors into promoters of this category. A change in perception is impossible without a change in narrative and that’s what we set out to do – build a fresh new narrative around not just senior living but also age and ageing in India. So our communication strategy is not just about the product, but very much about the socio-economic-cultural context within which a product such as ours exists. In terms of communication strategy, seniors tend to have a comparatively higher attention span than the millennial audience. They have great appetite for good quality content – irrespective of the length of it. So, there isn’t a constant pressure to grab their attention in the first three seconds. If you serve them content and messaging that is meaningful, relevant and helpful for them, they would engage with you. They respond well to long form content in the form of articles, blogs and magazine features. At Columbia Pacific Communities, we have a monthly magazine called Tales, which is read by 1800 of our residents. We also have a blog section on our website that is for, of and by the residents of our communities. Four best practices to reach out to a customer and finally make a sale? Adopt a full-funnel approach to marketing to ensure mid and long-term goals for the business are being met and you don’t have a short-term, myopic approach to achieving business objectives. Rely on the age-old AIDA model, which in the current age stands for A (Attention/Awareness) I (Intent/Interest) D (Desire) A (Action) Do not just look at bottom-funnel goals such as action (conversion). Spend equal time, effort, and resources to work on top and mid-funnel goals such as awareness and interest. Because it’s awareness and interest that builds brand saliency, which then leads to consideration for a product. Understand the sales cycle for the product category you operate in and devise a customer engagement plan accordingly. If you, for instance, market a product category that has a sales cycle as long as six months, strategically build a robust customer engagement plan working closely with your CEM team. In a category such as ours, sometimes a purchase decision can take up to six months. We actively work towards keeping the customer engaged for such a long sales cycle through various engagement methods – whether it’s sending them flowers and a card on their birthdays, or inviting them to our special Facebook Live sessions with celebrities and experts, or sending them our monthly magazine. When it comes to lead or demand generation, always prioritize quality over quantity. Certain channels such as Facebook may give you great volumes of leads, but the quality may suffer. Increasing the sales funnel needlessly puts pressure on the pre-sales team resulting in lower productivity. Hence, it’s best to engage with channels that may be more expensive as far as cost per lead is concerned, but delivers quality leads. And finally, the final sale is always a result of brand promise + product proposition meeting customer’s expectations coupled with the overall experience the consumer has had through the entire lifecycle.  So, it’s important to fine-tune CX at every customer touchpoint starting with communication and advertising to a landing page, pre-sales, and finally sales. How to generate quality leads in the B2B Segment? Content plays an extremely crucial role in B2B lead generation and has been identified as the single most effective mode of generating leads. Some of the content marketing avenues that yield qualified leads in B2B businesses include webinars, podcasts, the publication of white papers, blogs, social media content, website content, videos, and, above all email marketing, which has proven to be very effective. A lot of B2B leads come through channels as well. And the key to generating quality leads is to ensure that your content acts as a lead magnet. This means that your content is so enticing that you are able to get a prospect’s contact details in exchange of the content that the person is downloading from your website and blog. So, it’s important to have a clear CTA on your content pages including blogs. Social media can be useful in generating quality leads for a B2B business. However, it’s important to get the strategy right. For instance, for a B2B business, it makes more sense to be active on LinkedIn and use that platform for its lead generation campaigns even though it’s a more expensive platform, than, let’s say, Instagram or even Twitter. The other important thing is to ensure that the right SEO strategy is in place, and landing pages are optimized to ensure people are not bouncing off the pages. The right SEO strategy helps send quality traffic to the website, but the right content strategy will ensure that they stay on the website and engage in the desired action such as filling up a form. Hence, content is key. Psychology has a role in marketing and branding. Do you agree? Please share some insights on the same.  A lot of brand building is about perceptions, which is largely governed by the human psyche. This is why, in marketing and brand building, a technique called Perceptual Brand Mapping, plays a key role as it helps brand managers understand how the consumer perceives her brand. – Piali Dasgupta Tweet The minutest detail such as the brand logo colour, the typeface used in the logo, the kind of ambassadors a brand chooses to associate with, the tone of voice, style of visual and the overall brand personality can play a role in manipulating the human psyche and creating compelling brand imagery in the consumer’s mind on one hand or putting consumers off on the other hand. An important role of advertising is to increase brand recall and saliency. And that doesn’t happen without deeply understanding consumer psychology. For example, when you look at an iconic tagline such as “Thanda Matlab Coca Cola”, it comes from a keen observation of customer behavior – using the word “Thanda” at a shop when asking for a cool beverage. Coca-Cola increased its market penetration in rural and semi-urban India by 16% back in 2003 through that campaign because it was able to equate “Thanda” with Coca-Cola. Whenever a consumer thought of drinking something cold to quench his thirst, he wanted a Coke. It’s fascinating how a specific word, a tone, or an image can evoke specific emotions and reactions and play a role in persuading a consumer to buy a product.  Similarly, if you think about colour psychology and the role it plays evoking certain emotions in a consumer’s mind, you will understand why certain brands choose certain colours for the design of their logos. The colour red is known to increase appetite. It’s no surprise then that a lot of food brands use red in their logos. What are new marketing trends you foresee in 2021? If the content was king in the pre-COVID world, it’s all set to become the emperor in the post-COVID world. In fact, I would go to the extent of saying that content is marketing. Content will play an increasingly crucial role in the customer lifecycle in the post COVID era. – Piali Dasgupta Tweet EQ would be a key factor in communication. Brands realized this during the pandemic – the fact that appealing to a consumer’s emotional quotient more than hard-selling a product was the way to go. And this trend will continue in 2021. Even as the economy slowly starts to climb out of the trough, marketers would continue to focus on ROI-driven marketing, cutting out all the fluff and attribution channels that are not hard-working enough. Digital as a medium will continue to see double-digit growth in 2021, while some of the traditional media such as Print and TV will revive gradually. With an increased focus on digital and the digital transformation finally taking place in the country and the world over, brands would leverage the power of VR to create consumer experiences that are as good as real. Certain high-value categories such as fine jewellery and real estate have already started using VR to create virtual experiences that propel purchase decisions remotely. The trend would become pervasive in certain other consumer goods categories as well. There will also be an increased focus on AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) which will make some real innovations in creating a seamless experience for customers digitally. And finally, with a general loss of trust in Bollywood celebrities with the ongoing drug scandal and several other controversies, brands will be very cautious of associating themselves with film personalities. They would, instead, focus on micro and nano influencers who have greater relevance to the audience and they are marketing their specific products too. Brands would greatly realize now more than ever that celebrity endorsements are a double-edged sword. While it gives a brand and its product the kind of eyeballs that very few other associations do, it can also backfire if the general sentiment around a celebrity is not favorable. Why I should choose marketing as a career? Marketing is one of those rare fields that necessitate the use of both your left and right brains. It is as analytical as it is creative; it’s as much about numbers as it is about big ideas. And if that’s not exciting, I don’t know what is. Marketing truly is about the yin and the yang, and so, if you are someone who’s as much a thinker and ideator as a data miner and number cruncher, this profession is for you. Marketing also allows you to build brands and become custodians of brands. And this is a truly fulfilling and rewarding experience. It’s almost like being a parent because you are responsible for everything to do with the brand  – from the customer experience to the health of the brand and it’s public image and so on. So you look after it and nurture it just the way you would nurture your own child. Every marketer and brand manager looks at a brand in a similar manner. Marketing is a vast function, and it gives you an exposure to almost every function within an organization because nearly every function is closely intertwined with what Marketing as a function does. Marketing as a function builds brand, which in turn builds brand equity, which results in shareholder value. So, it’s a crucial role in any organization and hence there are many good reasons for one to choose marketing as a career. Can you please tell us a little bit about Columbia Pacific Communities? Columbia Pacific Communities is India’s largest and most experienced senior living community operators with over 1600 residential units under management in 5 cities and 9 locations across south India. As the pioneers in this category, it is committed to reimagining the concept of senior living in India and create world-class practices that exceed these expectations of its stakeholders. It is part of the Seattle-based Columbia Pacific Group, one of the foremost developers of senior living communities in the United States and China. Founded by entrepreneur and senior living pioneer Dan Baty, Columbia Pacific has more than 40 years of experience and expertise in designing, building and managing senior housing communities around the world. The team, with the expertise of its principals in the United States of America and its partners in India, brings together rich experience in senior housing design, development and management. Columbia Pacific Communities is committed to reimagining the space of senior living and senior care in the subcontinent and is already the recipient of several awards. Chit Chat Your Favorite Book: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro Your Favorite Destination: Paris Your ME Time: Reading, watching Netflix, traveling, sketching Your Happy Moment: Travelling Who Am I: A passionate marketer What motivates you: Great leadership Your Current Read: Pragmarketism by Trupti and Arvind Bhandari Passionate about: Mental health advocacy One thing people don’t know about you: I am cynophobic; really scared of dogs.

With increasing medical costs due to emerging lifestyle diseases and medical advancements, the requirement for the amount of coverage for a medical cover has increased. By Raghwendra Shukla -October 14, 2020 14:05 FacebookWhatsAppTwitterPinterestShare The coronavirus outbreak has changed the way we look at our lives and the thing that it is going to stay for long, at least till the time we have a vaccine, makes it more terrible. The other important aspect of the disease is that older people or senior citizens are at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19. This is why it is extremely important for them to have health insurance to address any uncertainties. But what are the things that senior citizens should keep in mind while by health insurance? HealthWire spoke to Mohit Nirula – CEO, Columbia Pacific Communities – to understand key points that should be considered before making a decision in this regard. According to Nirula, non-maintenance of health, our only real asset, can mean an impacted lifestyle besides an unexpected and undesirable drain on one’s savings. “While the awareness for healthcare has increased and we try our best to maintain good health, we may still face certain medical issues owing to external factors, genetics, lifestyle-based disease, the environment we live in etc. It is to address these uncertainties that we need Health Insurance,” he added. ALSO READ | Coronavirus: All You Need To Know About COVID Health Insurance And Why It’s Important With the plethora of options available in the market, here are some simple tips suggested by him that should be considered while purchasing a health cover: 1. Understanding the coverage required: With increasing medical costs due to emerging lifestyle diseases and medical advancements, the requirement for the amount of coverage for a medical cover has increased. This may further go up with each passing year with medical inflation being as high as 12% to 15% per annum. Keeping this in mind, you should ensure a good coverage in your health policy. A good way to understand this is to evaluate the kind of hospital you would want yourself to be treated in and then understand the cost of a treatment in such hospitals for the most common age related treatments such as Angioplasty, Bypass Surgeries, Knee Replacement, Dialysis, Hernia, Prostate Enlargement Surgeries etc. This should give a fair idea of the required coverage. 2.Floater Policy Vs Individual Policy: While buying a policy, another important factor to consider is whether to buy a Family Floater policy or an Individual Policy. Under the Floater Policy, the premium is charged on the basis of the eldest member’s age. Once insurance is claimed under the floater policy by any of the insured members, the coverage amount reduces to that extent. If there is any claim within the same year, the coverage amount may fall short in hand. As your age progresses, there is an increased likelihood of health complications and one may require Health Insurance support multiple times within the same year. In such cases an Individual Health Insurance is preferred over the Floater Policy. ALSO READ | Are COVID-19 Health Insurance Products Worth Buying? 3. Coverage of pre-existing disease: Pre-existing diseases apply to persons having any disease present at the time of purchase of a Health Insurance. Due to the high risk involved in covering senior citizens, many insurance policies do not cover pre-existing diseases. Most of the time pre-existing diseases leads to other complications in health. Hence no coverage of pre-existing illness becomes a major disadvantage. Although some of the policies do cover pre-existing diseases, they may come with a waiting period. So, it is important to buy a policy that covers the pre-existing diseases to a large extent and has the least waiting period. 4. Understanding policy features: While buying a health insurance policy, it is important to evaluate a product based on various parameters such as Room Rent, Ambulance Cost, Treatment Limits and Waiting Period. Some policies offer lower premium cost but may have lot of sub limits and exclusions. It is important to read the terms and conditions of the policy wordings carefully to understand the applicable limitations of the policy. 5. Other Factors to consider: No Claim Bonus and Premium Discounts: When a policy is not claimed during the year, it will be eligible for a “No-claim Bonus”. Companies offer No-claim Bonus” in a range between 5% to 100% of the Coverage Amount thus increasing your overall Coverage Amount. Alternatively, some companies offer a discount on premium. Hospital Network: One should compare the hospital network of the shortlisted Insurance companies to ensure these include hospitals in close proximity to your home. Aging is a natural phenomenon and the human body becomes vulnerable to all kinds of diseases. Even if one is healthy today, it is best to plan for unforeseen medical emergencies well in advance. In addition to purchasing the right health cover, it is also suggested to put aside a part of the savings as an emergency corpus that can take care of medical cost such as home nursing services, medicines etc. that are not covered in the health insurance.

It was World Mental Health Day on October 10 and Columbia Pacific Communities, the senior living community operator, introduced a campaign titled #EndTheShame to encourage conversations around mental health and draw much needed attention towards it. The short digital film made completely in house brought to light mental diseases such as Dementia, Schizophrenia, Depression, Anxiety, Bi-polar Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Alzheimer’s, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder which need attention and medical care. The campaign #EndTheShame is in line with the theme for this year’s World Mental Health Day – Mental Health for All – Greater Investment – Greater Access. Said Piali Dasgupta, Senior Vice President, Columbia Pacific Communities, says, “It’s a misconception that mental illness among the elderly is mostly about Dementia and Alzheimer’s. A large number of seniors suffer from Depression, Anxiety and several other mental disorders. Yet, a majority of them are hesitant to talk about it or seek help, owing to lack of awareness and a long-standing stigma attached to mental illness. This video, on the occasion of the 28th World Mental Health Day, aims to draw attention to the various mental illnesses that exist and that elders are afflicted by. It urges society to end the shame around mental illness and encourage people suffering silently to reach out and seek help. We hope that with this pertinent message, we are able to do our bit to encourage all that are battling these diseases to come out and talk about their struggles, thereby normalizing conversations around mental illness.”

As senior citizens are one of the most vulnerable groups to the COVID-19 virus, Dr Karthiyayini Mahadevan, head, wellness and well-being, Columbia Pacific Communities suggests a range of ways to address this situation COVID-19, the newly emerged pandemic has woken up the consciousness of human beings to a unique challenge. During these times, there is a lot of focus on how to defend oneself against the offending agent, the COVID-19 virus. In any illness, there is an interaction between the host and the agent, and there is a need for the host to be less perceptive. A spectrum of symptoms and the course of the disease keep changing every day, dynamically. Virus load and reactions to the virus bring about change to the course of this illness. This pandemic has posed a challenge mostly to those who are in the extreme age groups and the ones who have comorbid conditions. Senior citizens and infants are the most vulnerable groups. Hence, our seniors are the ones who need the utmost awareness and protection. Challenges on mental health This outbreak of pandemic proportions has posed numerous compulsions on individuals, viz. indefinite stay indoors or visits away from home and loved ones. Stress resulting from these impositions has led to an array of mental health issues other than the tangibly seen physical illnesses. Since this pandemic is the first of its kind faced by this generation, there are no protocols laid down to overcome the stress caused by this never before experienced situation. The contributing factors adding to this stress are: Uncertainty about the symptoms and course of illness Fear of death Fear of losing loved ones Overwhelming incomprehensive quantum of information Non-availability of beds in hospitals, and in many cases, refusal to admission due to non-availability of ventilators Fear of isolation on being tested positive Consequences of the pandemic on mental health This compounding stress has affected the mind and precipitated any dormant illnesses such as depression, anxiety disorders such as OCD, panic attacks and exacerbated the pre-existing mental illnesses and manifested into aggression, suicidal tendencies and chronic fatigue. How to address this situation A well-balanced diet, regular physical activity and a positive attitude plays a major role. Adequate awareness through the right sources will cause less panic and unnecessary anxiety. Social connectedness plays a major role for those who are not tech savvy. Emotional support through friends will also help. Medical advice through teleconsultations and tele counselling on a regular basis will also play an important role in keeping anxiety levels low. Physically being active also helps in creating positive emotions. Hence, exercises with awareness such as Yoga and Tai Chi have been great tools to overcome mental health challenges.

Chennai – As the world celebrates the mental health day today amidst COVID19 pandemic which has been taking a heavy toll on normal life across the spectrum, the country still lacks an effective National Suicide Prevention Plan as the suicide cases continues to rise. Dr. Lakshmi Vijayakumar, the founder of Sneha Foundation Trust, Chennai, said that the plan was the need of the hour the government had to take steps to implement the policy. Last December we submitted a plan to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. ‘We had suggested a slew of measures including banning of pesticides in the rural areas, preventing women from domestic violence and impact of alcohol among men as both are co-related reason for suicide of women. It also suggested the importance of providing education and employment opportunities to the vulnerable population including young women, and farmers. The role of the media has also been highlighted in the draft. We had found that students are one of the vulnerable communities in India, because their expectation level is very high. If they fail to meet the expectation, they fall in depression resulting in the extreme step’, she said. According to the Mental Health Activists, it’s important to understand the mental status of your closed one as it can save precious lives to a great extent. Usually people who showcase an attitude of reclusiveness, despair in life and helplessness have a high chance of committing suicides. The excessive use of drugs, sudden change in behaviour and character should be noted. Suicides can be prevented with timely action. So there must be centrally driven effective suicide prevention plan in association with state governments, NGOs and influential people. And mental health and suicide should be treated as a public health crisis that needs immediate fixing’, they say. “It’s a misconception that mental illness among the elderly is mostly about Dementia and Alzheimer’s. A large number of seniors suffer from Depression, Anxiety and several other mental disorders. Yet, a majority of them are hesitant to talk about it or seek help, owing to lack of awareness and a long-standing stigma attached to mental illness. It’s imperative to encourage all that are battling these diseases to come out and talk about their struggles, thereby normalizing conversations around mental illness,” said Piali Dasgupta, Senior Vice President, Columbia Pacific Communities. National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data on ‘Suicides in India’ for the year 2019, published last month reveals that at least 1,39,133 people died by suicide last year across the country. Tamil Nadu, which took the second place for a straight three years, registered 13,439 cases of suicides, including 4,250 women and eight members of transgender community. The report also points out that the majority of victims were in the age group of 18-45 and educated. While 2,501 persons ended their lives owing to illness in the state as many as 2,501 people took the extreme step due to career or business setbacks. Also 215 students died by suicide due to exam pressure. In terms of metro cities, the data show, Chennai registered the highest number of 2,461 suicides in the country last year, followed by Delhi with 2,423 cases. While 6,843 people decided to end their lives due to family problems, the state had the highest number of 219 suicides by people who could not endure the death of their dear ones. Over 500 people, mostly women, died by suicide due to marriage issues and 656 others killed themselves unable to handle complications arising out of love affairs. 1,042 cases of suicides attributed to drug abuse and alcohol addiction. Dr. Vijayakumar said that suicide never happen out of a stern decision. It always happens amidst a see-saw battle that takes place in the mind in taking the extreme decision. So the role of helpline number comes somewhere in the middle of up and down emotions the person is going through’, she said. … Tags: national suicide prevention day Location: India, Tamil Nadu, Chennai (Madras)

The benefits of exercise are limitless—and so is the age bracket for maintaining a fitness routine. In fact, the older you grow, the more your body needs it—to help with better functioning of the organs, a healthier heart, stronger muscles and immunity. “Exercise keeps senior people fit, improves circulation to all vital organs, keeps their blood pressure and blood sugar in check, joints healthy and prevents worsening of arthritis. It will also ease stress, keeping them mentally fit too,” says Dr. Mahesh Mylarappa, Consultant & Head of Emergency, Columbia Asia Hospital, Hebbal, Medical Partners to Columbia Pacific Communities. But how do you know what’s best for you and ideal once you hit 60? According to Dr Mylarappa, the ideal, regularised routine should consist of comfortable stretches, breathing exercises and then walking for a period of 20 minutes. Yoga, under guidance, and workout sessions focusing on various body parts is a good idea too. Here, we got three fitness experts to devise a fitness routine for the elderly from their field of expertise. But what’s most important? Listening to your body, and knowing when to call in the pros. Dance By Dipna Daryanani, contemporary dance artist and early childhood educator Dance helps with not just the balance of the body, but the mind, the heart and the emotions, “It requires engaging the brain and body with propositions of hand-leg coordination, memory, spatial awareness, building balance, keeping up with the rhythm and if it’s a group then keeping up with the group,” says Daryanani. Aside from being meditative and therapeutic, it’s also great for bone health, cardiovascular health, and keeping the brain sharp. “The joy of dance is possibly one of the best gifts to the human body and spirit.” When picking an exercise, it’s important to focus on what your body needs and is capable of. “Not everyone’s fitness levels are the same,” she says. For the nimble, she recommends finding a good teacher who understands their body and its restrictions if any, “and help them pursue whatever they please, whether it is Bollywood, hip hop, jazz, belly dancing, classical dancing, folk dance forms or contemporary dance. A good teacher will work with the student’s needs (no matter what the age) and create a lesson around it.” On the other hand, “Someone who is starting their journey at 60 needs to start slow, make sure to put yoga or practices like Feldenkrais method into your routine and then approach dance forms that interest you, slowly, one class at a time.” Functional training By Sudipta Mondal, holistic fitness and lifestyle coach “Build activity into your day simply by deciding to take the stairs versus the elevator, walking instead of taking out the car for a short distance,” says Mondal, and if you want to be consistent, she recommends exercising for 30-45 minutes, five times a week. “A thorough workout would include five or 10 minutes of light aerobic activity (jogging, cycling, swimming, hula hooping) to raise your heart rate and get you warmed up, 15 minutes of a full body conditioning workout, and 15 minutes of cooling down to allow your heart to return to its resting pace.” Currently training her 62-year-old mother, Mondal realises that a workout regimen can only be beneficial for the elders when it’s enjoyable and easy, without a risk of injury or boredom. Her basic four drill routine can be done thrice a week: Duck walk or the Indian deep squat walk 1 Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart. Push your hips back, bend your knees, and try to squat until your upper thighs are parallel to the floor, extending your arms out in front of you for balance. 2 Keep your chest up, your weight on your heels, and your eyes straight ahead. 3 Maintain this stance as you walk forward and backward for the prescribed time or reps. If it’s too hard to maintain a parallel squat—or you aren’t flexible enough to do that—go as low as you comfortably can and try to maintain that depth for the entire exercise. Spine roll 1 Stand straight with your feet hip width apart. 2 Roll into a forward bend, starting from the chin till the lower back, one vertebrae at a time. 3 Bend your knees, touch the palms on the ground and curl up your spine, letting the head come up at the end. One leg balance 1 Stand upright with your feet together. 2 Lift your leg off the ground one inch higher. Do not allow it to touch the ground. 3 Repeat on the other leg. Watch a clock to see how many seconds you are able to stand on one foot and record this number. Catch and throw “Throwing and catching a tennis ball really sounds funny and strange, right? Well, in my training experience, I have noticed that most people have had very positive memories associated with playing, be it children or old. The simple training exercise of catching and throwing a tennis ball can improve balance and help prevent falls in older adults,” says Mondal. Yoga By Tanvi Mehra, yoga teacher “Yoga is the most sustainable practise and can be practised by anyone at any age as it can be altered to each body, mind, temperament, injury and ailment,” says Mehra, “taking up yoga at or before 60 is beneficial to keep all the body systems functioning smoothly and especially to keep the nervous system relaxed. The most important part of the practise is to cultivate awareness as a tool that is potent to deal with any situation that life brings our way.” Mehra believes that your yoga practice should consist of 70 per cent pranayama (breathing techniques) and 30 percent of asanas and light kriyas, “For older adults an ideal routine could consist of light pranayama work and prop based yoga using a chair, a yoga strap or theraband, and blocks.” 1 Start with a gentle joint mobility flow which consists of clockwise and anti-clockwise ankle rotations, knee rotations, hip rotations, shoulder rotations, elbow and wrist rotations and neck stretches. 2 Moving the spine into a light forward, backward and side bends as well as twists in standing, seated and supine postures is also a wonderful way to keep the body feeling active and energised. 3 Avoid moving fast without breath awareness, as well extreme ranges in any asanas, and intense pranayamas.

Today, 65% of the country is below the age of 35, while those above the age of 60 years is only 7.7%. Percentages are misleading – the number of seniors today is 104 million, about the population of Australia multiplied by four! By 2050 India will be home to over 300 million citizens above the age of 60 years. ETHealthWorld October 01, 2020, 09:45 IST Image used for Representative purposes Image used for Representative purposes by Mohit Nirula, CEO, Columbia Pacific Communities In a country where the politicians and the marketers, the policy makers and the product innovators are fixated on the millennial generation – there is a demographic that continues to be ignored – a constantly growing constituency with voting power equal to the millennials and a spending capability of several times more – our senior citizens. Today, 65% of the country is below the age of 35, while those above the age of 60 years is only 7.7%. Percentages are misleading – the number of seniors today is 104 million, about the population of Australia multiplied by four! More relevant, from the point of view of planning for the future, this number is expected to triple in the next 30 years. By 2050 India will be home to over 300 million citizens above the age of 60 years. Our culture is one where children are expected to take the responsibility of their parents in their golden years. However, the growth of nuclear families, migration of youth from villages to cities, from home state to state of work and even to other countries has meant that seniors are increasingly having to fend for themselves in their old age. With this tectonic shift in demographics, it is important that policy makers start creating an ecosystem that will support and empower this demographic in the years to come. Financial security through innovative investment schemes that allow seniors to stay ahead of the inflation curve, tax structures that recognise their dependence on fixed incomes, reverse mortgage schemes that allow them to leverage their assets for their own well-being during their life time are essential improvements that will make life easier and more independent for seniors. Health care costs have only been increasing over the past years. With growing life expectancy, the need for health care facilities and corpus that needs to be set aside to provide for medical needs will also increase. A three-fold increase in the elderly population will have a commensurate increase in the need for healthcare support. This requires policy makers to provide for accessible and affordable healthcare while simultaneously enabling the insurance sector with tax incentives and subsidies that enable them to bring affordable products that address the needs of the seniors. Loneliness is the greatest accelerator of ageing and age related ailments. The best antidote is for seniors to practice positive ageing – an approach to life that encourages them to enjoy an active and positive social environment, allows them to remain physically fit, mentally alert and intellectually stimulated and hence, healthier for longer. Creation of senior living communities that support such an environment while fulfilling all the day to day needs of the residents is a solution that has been extremely successful across the world. More specialised facilities for those requiring higher levels of care, whether physical or related to memory care, will also be required. Incentives and policy support that make patient capital available to the private sector will attract greater investment and hence the availability of these services for our seniors. Our seniors have given their all in their youth. They have fulfilled their responsibility to their children, their parents, their careers, to society and to the nation. It is only fair and correct that the nation repays this debt to our elders. (DISCLAIMER: The views expressed are solely of the author and ETHealthworld.com does not necessarily subscribe to it. ETHealthworld.com shall not be responsible for any damage caused to any person/organisation directly or indirectly.)

In conversation with Mohit Nirula, CEO, Columbia Pacific Communities   What has triggered a spike in demand for retirement communities in India since the outbreak of COVID-19 virus? The past many months have highlighted the dependence of seniors living on their own or in mixed family condominiums on external resources for their day to day and medical needs.  The need for physical distancing also resulted in social isolation and loneliness. By contrast, residents of senior living communities had the benefit of being ring-fenced from the external environment. They continued to enjoy the services and medical support from their service provider in the Community. Equally importantly, immunity levels were kept boosted by special meals and beverages while also ensuring that they remained socially engaged with friends and neighbours This contrast and an appreciation of how communities designed with seniors in mind provide not just a solution to their needs but is in fact a more desirable lifestyle, is the reason for this spike in demand.   What are the benefits of Community Living during a crisis situation? The service provider in a senior living community addresses three important needs of a resident: Freedom from day to day chores – a zero-headache lifestyle A wellness and wellbeing programme that encourages positive ageing Address the existing and emergent medical needs   Residents of a senior living community are able to enjoy these services without exposing themselves to the external environment and the invisible enemy. Finally, children who are away from their parents – in another city or country can count on senior living communities to fulfil a need and responsibility that their geographical separation does not allow them to meet.   What’s the next step after choosing a senior living community? Having made this important decision, future residents of senior living communities have only one thing left to resolve – how to best utilise the time they will now have available to themselves. Which hobbies to pursue, which unrealised passion to follow and how to be the best of what they always wanted to be but could not because of their past responsibilities and duties.   Online and social media tips for senior independent living community residents The best tip that I can share with seniors – irrespective of whether they stay in a senior community or not is to be careful about the misinformation and disinformation that travels across mediums such as WhatsApp. Our biggest challenge during the initial weeks of the pandemic was to substitute misinformation with knowledge and scientific fact so residents did not worry about things that were not based in truth or backed by science.   How is the senior living industry poised to grow in India With more and more seniors living on their own and the realisation that senior living communities are ideal solutions for their needs and their desire for a hassle free lifestyle – the growth will be exponential.