A 'Day for the Prevention of Institutionalisation and Deinstitutionalisation: Towards Personal Autonomy' was organised by the Generalitat de Catalunya in Barcelona, in the historic Auditorium de la Pedrera, on this occasion the 'Viva gli Anziani!' programme was presented as a preventive, proactive and innovative service in the new demographic and urban scenarios, to help the elderly stay at home.
The 'Viva gli Anziani!' programme, active in Rome and in several Italian cities, is an innovative service for countering social isolation, through the creation of networks, which stand alongside traditional responses (home care, residential services, etc.) and reach large populations at risk. The main objective is prevention: countering the negative effects of critical events (heat waves, flu epidemics, falls, loss of a partner, etc.) on the health of the over-80s. The proposed strategy is the active and constant monitoring of all elderly people.
Montserrat Vilaseca, from Sant'Egidio in Barcelona, also communicated the first data of the 'Long Live the Elderly' programme in the central Gothic quarter, where a network of volunteers who make calls, home visits and other interventions has been set up. "It is a first step," she said, "an example of what we can call transition of care, that is, the transition to customised and integrated home services capable of making the life of the elderly easier, more accompanied and, therefore, better.
The day's introduction was addressed by the Health Councillor, Manel Balcells, and the Social Rights Councillor, Carles Campuzano, who emphasised "the need to transform the current models of care and assistance for the elderly so that they remain at home and move towards de-institutionalisation". On the other hand, the Health Councillor emphasised the importance of "intermediate community structures" to promote deinstitutionalisation.
