International Day of Older Persons – Cáritas Coimbra shared its work on ageing projects
As part of the International Day of Older Persons, celebrated on 1 October, Cáritas Coimbra participated in the event entitled “Ageing in times of pandemic”, which was held at the Pavilhão Centro de Portugal – Coimbra. This was an initiative of the home healthcare company – DCRFuncional – that promoted a set of thematic lectures and discussions to mark this date.
The event aimed to “sit at the table” various entities providing health and social services to older people in the region of Coimbra, providing an opportunity to share the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic to professional care teams, older persons and their families. There was also space to reflect on the new perspectives to be adopted regarding the ageing process, as well as on the need to adapt the intervention strategies to be implemented in this scope.
Cáritas Coimbra was invited to be part of the panel of speakers at the event, where Sofia Ortet, from the Innovation Department, presented the way in which the pilots of ongoing projects – in particular, the DAPAS project – have adapted to the contingencies of the pandemic context, namely through the creation of additional security protocols and procedures for indirect interaction with the participants, which allowed for the continuation of the work, without compromising the safety of the older users (and respective care teams) Involved.
The implementation plan for the Portuguese large scale pilot of the VALUECARE project, led by Cáritas Coimbra, was also presented, with particular focus on the application that provides intervention modules aimed at monitoring and encouraging social, family and community interaction of older adults, whose isolation (both in the physical and social aspects) may have been aggravated by the protection measures dictated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The DAPAS project is co-funded by the European Programme AAL (Active Assisted Living – ICT for Ageing, 2017) and, in the Portuguese case, by the Foundation for Science and Technology. The VALUECARE project – Value-Based Methodology for Integrated Care Supported by ICT – is co-funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
