News

The 2nd national event of the Portuguese Network on Smart, Healthy and Age-Friendly Environments was held in Faro, Algarve, on June 28. This meeting included international guests and thematic workshops to work on the actions planned by the Network for 2019.

The event had over 60 participants from the general public and members of the Network – which has over 70 officially registered organizations – bringing together partners from all regions of Portugal, committed to promoting a joint agenda for the implementation of Inclusive Age-Friendly Environments, with particular focus in the areas of Health, Social Support, TICE and Infrastructures.

The opening session of this meeting was delivered by Carina Dantas from Cáritas Coimbra and João Apóstolo from the Coimbra Nursing School, as Technical and Scientific Coordinators of the Network, as well as the host of the meeting, Sandra Pais from the University of Algarve/CENIE.

Joan Martin, Executive Director of the Louth County Council (the first age-friendly city in Ireland) and President of the European Covenant on Demographic Change (World Health Organization affiliated entity), brought practical guidelines on “How to implement age-friendly environments for all ages?”.

The other international guest, Fernando Machicado, Secretary of CEN CENELEC and Manager of the Construction and Accessibility Programme of UNE, presented the latest standard on “Accessibility and Usability of the built environment – Functional requirements” – prEN 17210, developed under the mandate M/420 of the European Commission.

The Round Table brought together high-level representatives of national public and private entities who jointly discussed the issue of accessibility and how to ensure that they are properly implemented, particularly in the context of funding from the Structural Funds.

Were present to discuss the theme “Accessibilities: Innovation in health and social support”, Paulo Morgado, President of ARS Algarve; Margarida Flores, Director of Social Security of Algarve; Francisco Serra, President of CCDR Algarve; Alexandra Rodrigues, Director of Services of CCDR Centro; Patrícia Seromenho, President of the Regional Secretariat of Misericórdias of Faro; Jorge Oliveira, CEO of SIOSLIFE and Leonor Mendonça da Acessible Portugal. The moderation of the table was brilliantly secured by António Ramos from CCDR Algarve.

The second part of the meeting was facilitated by the Network Coordinators, who presented to the participants the Network Action Plan and new proposals for action. Influence on Policies and Practices, Business Models, Collaboration and Communication, and Lifelong Health and Well-being, were the themes of the parallel working groups that took place at this 2nd ReaViVa Participatory Meeting, promoted by Alexandra Rodrigues (CCDR Centro), Helena Caria (IPS), Cristina Guimarães (INESC-TEC), Helena Caria (IPS), Elísio Costa (Porto4Ageing), Isabel Vaz Serra (Fr. Lourenço Júnior), Ana Sepúlveda (40+ Lab), Flávia Rodrigues (Cáritas Coimbra).

The next meeting of the Portuguese Network will be integrated in the largest national meeting dedicated to Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation, Portugal Social Economy’19, which will take place on December 10 and 11 at FIL, in Lisbon.

For more information about the Network see https://www.caritascoimbra.pt/rede-portuguesa/pagina-inicial/ and to register as a member you must make your registration through the form available at https://caritascoimbra.pt/ network-portuguese / integrate-the-network /