Training for Senior Citizen Caregivers

Ixchel Poot

One area that the country has made progress in is the standardization of the care-giving for the elderly. The Council has partnered with BTEC in the past to train caregivers within communities. According to Ixchel Poot, this year, the council is linking up with Belize Natural Energy to train eighty caregivers across the country to enhance quality of life for older persons.

Ixchel Poot, Executive Director, National Council of Ageing

“There is still strengthening that we need to do in the area of legal work, legislation and looking at how we really safeguard and protect the rights of older persons.”

Duane Moody

“Now, we’ve seen in the past where older persons have been victims of violence and even arson because they’ve been neglected by some family members, by society. What is the council doing in terms of addressing those issues?”

Ixchel Poot

“Now those issues are definitely very strong issues that we need to look at and we have to look at how we are going to comprehensively protect our older persons. We’ve started a lot of the discussions, a lot of the areas that we need to reconnect. And the truth is that the Webbo Support System that we have for older persons is not as strong as we want it to be. About two years ago, the council did a continuum of care survey where we look at all the organizations that provide services and we’ve been building on that survey and looking at where the shortfalls are and how we can best identify vulnerable older persons in their communities and once they are identified, then how do we channel them into the services and get them where they need to go. It’s a slow process, but I am confident with the partners that we have and the work that’s been going on, we will eventually get there.”