Quality of Life

What is “Quality of Life”?  It refers to the general well-being of individuals and societies.  It is often confused with “Standard of living”.  While standard of living is reckoned in the context of income and wealth, quality of life is perceived in the context of social environment, physical and mental health, opportunities for decent health care, education, employment, opportunities for achievements in life, social and cultural interactions etc.  Textbooks may give a variety of definitions for the term “Quality of Life”.  For a common man, quality of life ultimately means carrying on his life without running behind routine and mundane things. Running behind routine things cause undue physical and mental pressure and waste of time and money.  A society that treats every member of the community equally and fairly can be said to provide a good quality of life to its constituents.

Having observed the arrival of a newborn child in USA recently and how the system dealt with the various issues relating thereto, certain features were felt very striking and indicative of “Quality of Life”.  This is no value judgment or reflection on any other system and only an attempt to place the facts as they unfolded.

• The first welcome for the new arrival was six months before the birth of the child.  As soon as the employer came to know about the arrival of the child, the expectant mother was allotted a parking place closest to the main entrance of the building.  There was no necessity for her to arrive early at the office complex for finding a parking place near the main entrance, to avoid long walks to the workplace from the parking lot.  (This facility is provided by some of the employers).

• There was no need for an announcing the new arrival.  Mere parking of the car in the dedicated slot was enough for the colleagues to understand and congratulate her profusely.

• The hospital gave the telephone number to be called as soon as the first signs of labor were felt.  This call would keep the system at the hospital ready for further necessary actions, before the expectant mother arrived at the hospital.

• If the expectant mother is alone at home or there is no arrangement for taking her to the hospital, a call to the police or an emergency number would do.  The nearest police patrol car would pick her up from the house and drop at the hospital.

• Hospitals offer birthing and parenting classes to prepare the parents to receive the baby and attend to its initial requirements.

• Each patient is provided a room or shared room,  with all emergency medical facilities.  

• At the time of arrival of the newborn, father of the child is allowed in the OT.  He is provided with the necessary gear and would look like any other doctor on duty.

• Father of the child has the privilege of receiving the baby first, even before the mother!  He is offered the pleasure of cutting the placenta and initiating the first act in the growth of the child.

• The child is not burdened with a long list of prescriptions of medicines and drugs.  The only shots given are for immunizations as per the prescribed schedule. 

• Most employers welcome the baby with some gifts or welcome card as soon as the birth is communicated to them.

• Saturdays are reserved for special attention to sick children at hospitals.  This is to prevent mixing of normal kids with sick ones and to avoid infections.

• Dedicated telephone numbers are available at Hospitals for reaching incase urgent medical attention is required for the child.

• Feeding the child by the mother is encouraged.  Supplements like formula milk are used only when necessary.

• Parents have to fill a simple form giving details of names and address of the parents and name given to the baby, and submit to the hospital authorities.  Birth Certificate issued by the competent authority arrives in the mailbox within a week.  No need of repeated trips to the registrar’s office and no other requirement of formalities or applications. No registered mail and no need to wait for the postman.

•  In the next two or three days, Social Security Card of the newborn arrives in the mailbox.

• Parents can take the child to a local library or town hall and apply for a passport.  The library works till late in the evening and an appointment can be obtained for as late as 8.30 PM.  The formalities can be completed without applying for leave or going to agents to get an appointment at the passport office.  In a week’s time passport arrives in the mailbox. Again, there is no need to wait for the postman or visit the post office if the receiver is not at home during his visit.

• Thus, within a month’s time the child has its basic documents like birth certificate, social security card and passport in place.

• Use of child seat in cars is compulsory and safety of the child is given utmost importance.

• A sign on the car window, “Baby on board”, is respected by all motorists and due deference is shown to the car carrying the baby.

• Each residential area is assigned to a school district.  A child from the area goes to the designated school and there is no need for the parents to search for schools and pay hefty donations for a seat in the school.

• School buses have distinct yellow colors and traffic regulations provide special courtesy to such vehicles.  Speed limits are strictly followed and enforced.

• Priority in boarding of aircrafts, trains and buses is given to parents carrying small children.  This is not the courtesy of some kind-hearted human beings or at the discretion of the other passengers.  It is provided in the systems and the procedures are strictly implemented.  More importantly, nobody grumbles or interferes in their implementation.

• As the child grows, due importance is given for physical activities, sports and games.  All schools are provided large play-fields and attached infrastructure.

• Parents are provided certain relief in their income tax assessments for taking care of the child.  This is the government’s contribution for the welfare of the child. 

To sum up, a newborn is a welcome addition to the society and not treated as a burden.  The above measures and practices make a new arrival a matter of happiness and joy for the parents.  Such joy is shared by the society as well.  This is indicative of an important index of “Quality of Life”, from the very beginning of a new life.

Gifting problems and Gift Registry

"Man (that includes woman) is a social animal" was the first sentence in the Social Studies text book several decades ago.  It probably remains the same even now.  Being a social animal results in celebrating events in one's life with family members and friends.  Functions like marriage, house warming, baby shower, birthdays and anniversaries are very common and arranged regularly.  Hosts of such functions have to make elaborate arrangements to ensure that these functions are conducted smoothly and are remembered for a long time for the right reasons.  They have a long list of requirements and preparatory plans to ensure the success of the events. Selecting a suitable form of invitation and sending them to the guests is an integral and important part of the process.  Decision making on all these components is an enjoyable as well as a painful process for the hosts.

Once an invitation is received by the guest, the process starts at the other end.  The guest has to first decide whether he or she wants to attend the function.  If the decision is to attend, bachelors have no problem.  For those with a family, the next question is whether to attend alone or with family members.  Those with multiple families have multiple problems.  They have to decide which family to take to the event.  Once this is decided the next issue to be resolved is whether a gift should be presented.  Giving a gift is often an emotional action and involves a lot of feeling and planning.  Gift should be attractive, liked by the receiver and ultimately useful to them.  Fitting the item within one's budget is also a relevant issue.  Some carry gifts with them to ensure that others present at the event carry a good impression about them.  For them, the packet must be big though it contains a useless or cheap item. Even if the decision is not to honor the invitation by personal appearance at the occasion, a decision has to be taken to send a gift or not.  Then to send with whom or how?  The guest has to grapple with all these problems.

Hosts or receivers of the gifts have their own set of problems.  There was an ugly practice of noting down the amounts or items given with the name of the donors, several years ago.  Fortunately, it not seen nowadays. Problems of the hosts start with the transporting of the gift items received at the event place to their residence or place of stay.  Opening of the gift packets is itself an entertaining activity and attracts much attention.  Sifting and sorting the gift items leads to many interesting situations.  Receiving multiple numbers of the same item is one of them. Such items are often disposed off by gifting them to some other host when this host receives an invitation for the next event! There have been some funny instances where a gift given as a guest sometime ago is received back as a host sometime later! Then there are other items which the receiver does not know what to do with.  If the host is lucky, there can be many items which are welcome and indeed needed by them.

The problems enumerated above have been addressed and resolved to different extents by many different ways and means.  In our younger days, there would be an informal meeting of like minded relatives to dwell on the gifting issue.  Either funds were pooled and items were bought or a consolidated cash purse presented to enable the receivers to use it as they deemed fit.  Sometimes gifts were purchased from the pooled funds in consultation with the receiver, wherever possible.  Such items could be given privately to avoid the problems of carrying bulky items to the venue of the function.  Different  practices are used in other parts of the world.  In some countries of Europe, a bowl or box is kept to enable the guests to drop envelopes with cash. Those desiring to remain anonymous can drop an envelope without the giver's name. Present day solutions are handing over an envelope containing cash or giving gift cards.  Gift cards are becoming more popular.  Carrying them is easy and they can be sent by mail as well.  Receivers can buy the items of their choice and at their convenience.

"Gift Registry" is a modern solution to all the problems of giving and receiving of gifts or presents.  Companies like Amazon, Target, Macy's etc. have a system of providing solution to the problem as well as enhancing their own sales. The system works as under:

• The host (a bride or an expecting mother) prepares a list of all the items required and suitable for receiving as gifts.  The list of items is then placed on the website of the company which is appropriately called as "Wedding Registry" or "Baby Registry" etc. 
• The items may be for any amount, say from one dollar onwards and there is no limit for the maximum amount.
• Items in the registry can be deleted, modified or additions can be made. There is also provision for managing the registry jointly, say both parents or bride and the groom.
• Companies like Macy's also provide for visiting their stores, selecting the items, getting them scanned and getting a registry prepared as per the scanned bar codes of the items.
• Once the registry is in place, its availability is advised to the relatives, friends and colleagues by word of mouth, mail or phone.
• The word spreads and those willing to gift the items view the list on the website of the company.
• The giver chooses an item from the list, makes payment to the company over internet, through credit or debit card or other acceptable payment method, from the comfort of their homes or offices or even while flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet in a plane.  Company delivers the item at the doorstep of the receiver.
• Both the sender and receiver can track the movement and delivery of the item.
• Once a item in the list is taken by someone, the item gets blocked and thus duplication of gifts is avoided.
• If the item is available at an alternate source at lower rates, the sender can purchase there and get it delivered directly.  When such arrangement is made and advised to the company, the item is blocked in the registry.
• When the period for registry is about to expire or the event nears, the person creating the registry can buy the other items to complete the requirements.  Companies offer attractive discounts on the final purchases so made.  Otherwise the remaining items can also be allowed to lapse.
• Registry allows universal donors (from anywhere in the world!) and anything from anywhere as available on the websites.
• If the item is not satisfactory to the receiver, it can be returned free within the stipulated period.
• A "Thank You" list is available to the receiver to thank all the contributors to the registry purchases.
• Companies also have advising teams, available on line, to assist those who require help to use the registry system. 

Registry system thus provides solution to problems of giving or receiving gifts and prevents gifting problems.