Brampton - It was a cold gloomy day in January, with all the roads and the houses covered with a blanket of snow and temperatures touching -15 degrees. Sarabjeet Singh was at home with his wife, thinking and planning about how to go around with their day. It would have been much easier if Sarabjeet could go out and shovel the snow and drive a car, but things were not that easy for him. Sarabjeet was 76 years old and has been severely affected by rheumatoid Arthritis and his wife Balwinder Kaur, 73 years old was a heart patient with high blood pressure. Their daily life activities and the social interactions were very limited due to their health conditions.

This was the time of the year; they missed their homeland the most. It reminded them of the winters back home in India. Even though it was cold in winters, they always had their neighbours dropping into say "hello" or just wanting to give them company over a cup of "Chai". If by any chance there were no visitors, the telephones filled up that void by ringing continuously with calls from relatives, friends and acquaintances. But, it has been a completely different lifestyle here in Canada. Somehow, people are always busy here. If they are not working towards making their ends meet they would be busy with their immediate families.

Some days have been really hard to go by for Sarabjeet and Balwinder when both of them would reminiscence about their good old days or talk about their concerns and worry about each others' health. Sarabjeet and Balwinder have been living with their son and his family for the last 10 years.They have always felt fortunate to have family members caring and looking after them. Knowing that everyone has a busy and a stressful life, Sarabjeet or Balwinder find it unnecessary to add an extra emotional burden on their son or his family with their old age fears, concerns or worries. How they wish they could talk to someone or just share their thoughts and feelings with someone who could speak their language!

It was just during one of those regular conversations that one of their friends mentioned about Telecare Distress Centre's Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu telephone line that Sarabjeet felt like giving it a try. Sarabjeet was at last relieved to find a place where he could talk without the fear of being judged or identified. He was also glad that he could get community information and referrals for himself an his wife. Above all, he didn't have to translate his feelings or fears into another language but could comfortably converse with a trained volunteer in his own first language, Punjabi.

If you are experiencing sadness, isolation, stress, job loss, anger issues, addictions, depression, or just having difficulty coping in life; please call our lines at 905-459-7777. Our trained volunteers will provide listening and emotional support and provide community information and resources as and when needed.

Telecare Distress Centre provides free, anonymous and confidential Distress lines in English, Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Spanish and Portuguese.

Our English lines are open 24 hours of the day, and our Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Spanish and Portuguese telephone lines are open from 10am-10pm (Monday-Friday).

Telecare Distress Centre is here for you, just a phone call away….please call 905-459-7777.