The “Um Cão à Minha Janela” project, promoted by the City Council of Loulé and the Kokua Association, has helped, “over the past few months”, to fight the social isolation of the elderly who are in homes in the municipality and who are unable to have contact with their families.
According to the municipality of Loulé, this initiative has “promoted moments of emotional sharing between these citizens and a social help dog”.
As the team accompanying the project cannot access the interior of homes, to protect users, the “encounter” between the elderly and the dogs is made at the window.
«These are moments of sharing affections that contribute to the psychological and emotional well-being of the elderly who, for a year, have been living practically in total isolation, far from their families», highlights the Câmara de Loulé.
However, this presence in homes is just one of the aspects of the “Give me your paw” program.
Through social help dogs, this project, co-financed by Portugal Inovação Social and CRESC Algarve, which has the Municipality of Loulé as social investor, seeks to promote the well-being, autonomy and social inclusion of people with functional diversity and their families or of those who live in extreme isolation.
"It is the case of children with autism spectrum disorder in which contact with a dog helps social, through interaction activities and visual games, promoting stimuli that are crucial for increasing socialization and reducing levels of anxiety." highlights the autarchy.
“We are very happy with the results of this initiative, particularly in this pandemic phase. Here we found another vehicle to support our elderly people who, in essence, constitute the population group that has been most penalized by this situation due to the lack of contact with their families. It is also important to emphasize the importance of the role of the animal in today's society, and in this case its importance from a socio-affective and therapeutic point of view», emphasizes the mayor of Loulé, Vítor Aleixo.
Anyone interested in benefiting from the “Um Cão à Minha Janela” project can contact the Kokua Association through the email [email protected] and indicate the following elements: brief description of the beneficiaries and the circumstances in which they live. find (e.g. age group, interests, domiciliary context/specific response center), brief description of the external physical characteristics of the center/household (e.g. type of windows it has, where it is located), and time availability for scheduling visits .
After the visit and development of the activity, the Association will assess the results and impact of the project with those who benefit from it.
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