Regional Government holds to its commitment to services of support to the elderly
The regional secretary for Social Affairs justified, today, the commitment of the Executive in guaranteeing answers to the needs of the third age in all the islands with the conviction that “the quality of life is the main factor to have in consideration when one thinks about aging”.
Domingos Cunha was speaking in Ponta Delgada at the ceremony which marked the 132 years of the Luís Soares de Sousa Retirement Home, which he considered to be an example of the partnership that the Government has been promoting with several institutions to guarantee the functioning of several services of support to the elderly.
In order to guarantee these services, the institution receives an annual support of the Executive of nearly 400 thousand euros, he told.
Domingos Cunha highlighted that, in the legislature that ends in October, the Regional Government kept on investing in the policies of support to the old people, having increased by 11 percent the available equipments, as well as the number of included users.
Amongst the several projects of support to the elderly, he also pointed out the "Idosos Activos" Program and the 60 + Program, which created favourable conditions for the communication between people and generations, unleashing a network of social solidarity that provides to elderly citizens the reinforcement of their self-esteem and the valorisation of their own identity.
In collaboration with the private institutions of social solidarity (IPSS), there were also created the Specialized Multidisciplinal Teams of Integrated Support to the Elderly in São Miguel, Terceira and Faial, aiming at the promotion and development of service and psycho-social attendance and of rehabilitation systems that improve the quality of the answers on offer, he said.
When considering that “aging implicates a growing need of health care and assistance to the elderly, a vector that places a strong pressure on the current care-giving systems”, the regional secretary for Social Affairs emphasized the reinforcement of the policies addressed to limit the increase of the dependence, stimulating a healthy aging, preventing the accidents and rehabilitating after the disease and, for the other part, improving the quality and quantity of answers of shelter for the elderly with an elevated degree of dependence.
The governor also told that the commitment of the Government of the Azores to the support to the elderly contributed for a strong increase of social answers in this area, reaching today a capacity for 7.801 users and 211 equipments, against the 3.901 users and 105 equipments that existed 12 years ago.