Culture of visiting the elderly focussed at a conference in Barcelona on the day of Mary's Visitation to Elizabeth

Celebrating 50 years since home care started in the city

The Community of Sant'Egidio in Barcelona promotes the culture of visiting the elderly with a conference on the day the Church celebrates the feast of the Visitation of Mary to her elderly cousin Elizabeth. It is also 50 years since the beginning of the 'Home Assistance Service' (S.A.D.). It was in fact in 1971 that the Obra de la Visitació, a congregation of religious women, first assumed responsibility for starting home care for the elderly. Later, democratic institutions developed the public home care service, which still only reaches the 6% of the population eligible for it. The conference thus calls for the service to be strengthened, not least after the deaths of institutionalised elderly during the pandemic.

The conference "Origin and perspectives of the home care service in Barcelona. A homage to the Obra de la Visitació" is broadcast on the Facebook page Sant'Egidio Barcelona