Upon invitation of the Sint Maarten Lion’s Club, the Sint Maarten Seniors and Pensioners Association (SMSPA) will participate in the IV Health and Wellness Fair in the Festival Village on Saturday March 24, 2012. This will be the first time that SMSPA will participate in the health and wellness fair as a stakeholder.
The SMSPA will participate to enlighten everyone, especially the seniors and their family members, about its mission, vision, capabilities and endeavors. By visiting the booth of the SMSPA, you can get information about tasks and activities undertaken during its nearly two years of existence, to improve the health and the wellbeing of the seniors on Sint Maarten.
A big screen TV is available to broadcast discussions and opinions of seniors about how to improve their income and pension situation, as well as, recommendations about how to improve health care quality. The visiting seniors and their family members will be able to give their opinions based upon their experience and needs. Additionally, a questionnaire will be available for all to share their point-of-view with the SMSPA. For those who wish to join the SMSPA, application forms to sign up and become a member of the association will be available.
As food for thought, we would like to share some of the many situations that affect the health and wellness of seniors. These are:
· The unequal old age pensions in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, as compared to the equal pensions on the Northern-side (Sint Martin) within the French Republic.
· Insecure company pensions, for example questions concerning the APNA-APS transition, insecurities in the financial markets and loss on pension fund investments offered by private insurance companies.
· Complaints about the quality of the health care on Sint Maarten.
· Complaints about long waiting times before receiving specialist treatment and their frequent concerns regarding treatment, second opinions and the impression that the younger generation receive better attention from care givers.
· Complaints about the user-unfriendly bureaucratic administrative procedures and the number of times seniors have to go back and forth between the care giver and the SZV office. Although it has been recognised that SZV has implemented a system of appointments and assigned preferential treatment to seniors, there is room for more improvement.
· The health insurance premium which is five times (5x) higher than that of an active worker. Whereby, seniors are expected to pay 10% of their pension income on health care; while younger unemployed persons pay nothing.
Therefore we remind you that seniors and their family members, who will be the seniors of tomorrow, are invited to attend the health and wellness fair and to visit booth number 19 of the Sint Maarten Seniors and Pensioners Association. When in search of members of the SMSPA and their volunteers, we will be under the tent after the tent of the Diabetes Foundation and before the tent of the AIDS Foundation.
You’re Welcome to Come and Share your time and experiences with the SMSPA!