Journalists in Port Harcourt take up campaign for the elderly

Correspondents of the various media houses in Port Harcourt have in recent years taken up campaign for the elderly along with campaign for the motherless or orphans.

Port Harcourt is one of the cities that have home for the elderly. Most other African cities do not seem to have concern for such homes because of the ‘Next-of-Kin’ system whereby the young take care of their old ones as a matter of responsibility.

In most African villages, sending an old one away to a home would communicate ex-communication of such persons to convey a meaning that they do not have offspring to care for them.

Some cities such as Port Harcourt have developed to the stage where some persons have lived so long that their all and all is Port Harcourt, making their aged stages too vulnerable, requiring special care.

Background study shows that the origin of homes for the elderly began in medieval Europe with religious-run “almshouses”. Over centuries, these evolved through the grim poorhouses of the Industrial Revolution into today’s modern system of assisted living and nursing homes, which focus on dignity, autonomy, and specialized medical care. The development of modern elderly care traces a clear path over the last several centuries.

Literature says “The passage of the Social Security Act and the introduction of Medicare and Medicaid in the United States in the mid-1960s transformed elderly care into a formalized, funded industry. These acts allowed the rapid growth of private nursing homes to provide skilled medical care for an aging population. By 1987, the U.S. passed the Nursing Home Reform Act to standardize the quality of physical and mental care provided.”

This is said to lead to the birth of ‘Assisted Living’ that recognized that many seniors did not need intensive medical care but required help with daily living activities. The modern assisted living concept was thus pioneered in the United States in the 1980s. Keren Brown Wilson was said to have opened the first facility in Oregon in 1981, adapting the environment around the resident’s independence rather than isolating them in an institutional setting.

In Africa, most communities extend support to very elderly ones. African societies regard elderly people as a community asset who can give counsel freely to anyone. Some elderly mothers are given babies to care for while their mothers went to farm or market. In return, the moms buy snacks for the oldies.

In PH, some well-to-do persons visit the Homes to bring support or even to play with the occupants. The Correspondents’ Chapel of the Rivers State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has joined this effort in the past few years. They have thus called on Nigerians to show greater love, care, and support for elderly people in society.

Amaechi Okonkwo, Chairman of the Chapel, made the appeal on Thursday when members of the chapel visited the Home for the Elderly, operated by the Catholic Diocese of Port Harcourt, as part of activities marking the 2026 Correspondents’ Week celebration.

Speaking during the visit, Amaechi said the chapel deemed it important to extend kindness and support to the elderly by donating essential items, including foodstuffs and toiletries, to the home.

According to him, visits to charity homes have become a regular feature of the Correspondents’ Week activities because members believe people living in such homes deserve to celebrate and feel loved despite their circumstances.

Receiving the items on behalf of the home, Maryjane Raphael, a reverend sister, expressed appreciation to the Correspondents’ Chapel for the gesture and prayed for God’s blessings upon the journalists for taking time to visit the elderly residents.

She explained that the Home for the Elderly is open to all persons above the age of 70, irrespective of religious affiliation, and commended the various organisations and individuals who continue to support the facility through visits and donations.

Items donated to the home included rice, other food items and toiletries.

The visit also featured an interactive session with the elderly residents, presentation of the donated items, and prayers for the continued good health and long life of both the residents and members of the Correspondents’ Chapel.