About a year ago the trustees of the Calcutta Zoroastrian Community’s Religious and Charity Fund decided on three schemes to utilize the handsome bequest received from the late Baji Mirza. One of these was to fund the cost of annual medical check-ups for Parsi senior citizens over 60 years of age. There was an encouraging response to this, with 75 seniors in favor of the proposal, reports Calcutta Gavashni (April-September 2006 issue).
To help implement this proposal the trustees turned to Shirin Dastur, a voluntary social worker of long standing, but not too well known in the community as she has always chosen to remain in the background. Dastur is a trustee of the Asia Heart Foundation, and has been a member of its governing council since 2003, under whose umbrella prestigious institutions like the Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences function. She worked out a health check package for senior citizens at the Tagore Institute covering an extensive series of pathology and radiology tests, including a session with a physiotherapist, a dietician and a cardiologist, according to the community publication.
Senior citizens were taken in batches of 15 every month for five months in the Rusi B. Gimi Bus and were dropped back at their doorstep with Navaz Gherda, the caregiver appointed by the trust who accompanied them to the hospital and back, taking personal care of each one. Gherda was ably assisted by Pilloo Sutaria, Tenaz Avari and Thritty Dastur who gladly volunteered their services.