Director of the National Council for Senior Citizens, Beverley Hall Taylor, is appealing for additional financial and human resources for the Council, to improve its efficiency in fostering a better quality of life for the aging.

Speaking in an interview with JIS News on Tuesday, Taylor said that the council is in need of more field officers in order to be in a better position to identify senior citizens islandwide.

"We really need more assistance. What we really need is more field officers because we want to be able to identify seniors islandwide," the director said.

According to Taylor, the majority of persons within the council are volunteers who are employed elsewhere and will not be able to give their full attention at all times.

"The council needs some more hands, so we need funding to employ more people. We need day care coordinators, nurses' aids, and art and craft persons, because the volunteers have to go to work and we can't rely on them to do everything," she added.

She also emphasised that with the senior citizens population growing, the council is also in need of transportation.
"The council is in need of a thirty-seater bus so that when we are ready to take the seniors on educational tours, we won't have a problem. Sometimes the different parishes need to travel long distances with these seniors but don't have transportation to do so, so it is well needed. The nation must also take into consideration that the seniors population is growing and we need to prepare for them and help them age gracefully," Taylor added.

She is, however, grateful for the assistance from service clubs over the years, and is calling on other Jamaicans to give a helping hand.

"I am also calling on the non-governmental organisations (NGOs), private sector companies and Jamaicans at large to assist the council so that we can take care of our seniors.
Thanks to the service clubs such as the Rotary Club and Kiwanis Club of Kingston and St Andrew, for their assistance over the years. They have always been helpful to the council," she said.

The National Policy for Senior Citizens indicates that by the year 2020, the number of the senior citizens is expected to double. Earlier this year State Minister of Labour and Social Security, Andrew Gallimore, said the government is seeking to identify all senior citizens across Jamaica.

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