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On the 21st of June, Cáritas Coimbra received the international partners of the ValueCare project, so that they could get to know the context in which the large-scale Portuguese pilot is being implemented. 

The international team was represented by Erasmus Medical Centre, from the Netherlands, in the person of project coordinator Hein Raat and project manager Demi Cheng; by the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Rijeka (MEDRI), Croatia, in the person of Professor Tomislav Rukavina; and by the Instituto per Servizi di Ricovero e Assistenza Agli Anziani (ISRAA), from Italy, namely by the psychologists Stefania Macchione and Sara Ceron. 

The visit consisted of a general presentation of the structure of Cáritas Coimbra, its services and capabilities; a presentation of the work already developed by the institution’s Innovation Department within the scope of the ValueCare Project; and, finally, an exhibition of the Recruitment Plan for project participants in Coimbra. 

In addition, it was possible to contact several employees of Cáritas Coimbra. For example, Cláudia Neves, Technical Director of the Rainha Santa Isabel Centre (RSIC), was responsible for presenting the entire structure of the RSIC (Medical and Rehabilitation Clinic, Long-Term Care Unit, Chronic Disability/Impairment Home, and Home Care Service); Sónia Lopes, Social Worker and head of RSIC‘s Day Care Center and Home Care Service, presented the activities that are routinely carried out with users at the Day Care Centre; and Valquíria Carvalho, Technical Director of São Pedro Social Centre (SPSC) and Lurdes Marques, Socio-educational Animator of SPSC, accompanied the visit to SPSC in Bairro do Ingote, in Coimbra.

Through this direct contact, interviews were carried out with both project participants and formal caregivers, in order to understand how ValueCare can become an asset, according to the specifics of each group.  

On this day, the process of recruiting participants at São Pedro Social Centre was formally started with the delivery of tablets on which the ValueCare application will be tested. 

The team from Cáritas Coimbra’s Innovation Department that carried out this international meeting was: Bruna Franceschini (Manager of the ValueCare Project), Andrea Campos and Elisabete Pitarma (members of the Project’s technical team); Maria Inês Santos (responsible for the dissemination of the Project). 

The ValueCare project innovates as one of the largest pilots to be developed within the scope of Cáritas Coimbra and, thus, contributes to digital inclusion and digital literacy, focused on well-being; to bring technological solutions in favor of active and healthy ageing, as well as practical solutions to ease and optimize care-related activities and routines. 

The basic model of this technology consists of care based on the generated value and will allow the creation of an Individual Care Plan, monitored with the support of the ValueCare solution, namely in terms of physical well-being, social and family interaction and the emotional balance of end users. The project therefore proposes to create an efficient model of integrated social and health care, aimed at improving the quality of life of older people (and their families) affected by cognitive decline, conditions of vulnerability or multiple comorbidities. 

The project consortium includes 17 European partners, being financed by the Horizon 2020 Program of the European Union, under the Grant Agreement n.º 875215, and is coordinated by the Erasmus Medical Center (Netherlands).