The Residential Structure for the Elderly, Day Centre, Home Care Service and Nursery at Olhos de Água, located in Torre da Medronheira, in Albufeira, is ready to receive users, three years after the laying of the first stone.
In this place, built from scratch and already equipped with everything necessary for the activity, there will be space to accommodate 57 elderly people permanently, 33 in the Day Center and 46 children in the nursery, while 40 people will still have access to the home care service. .
«For now, on the 1st of September, only the crèche will open», clarified Patrícia Seromenho, provider of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Albufeira, at the opening ceremony of this structure, which took place this Sunday, 20th of August, as part of the commemorations of Municipality Day.
According to the person in charge, the «big problem» now is the lack of human resources, mainly for the senior area. With the technical team almost complete, the objective is «to take advantage of the end of economic activity in terms of hotels, which takes place between September and October, to motivate people to want to work with us and to provide training in this very space», he told journalists.
Thus, what is foreseen is that the Day Center will be the second social response to move forward, in October, followed by the residential area, in January.
«Before January, it is not possible to do well because there are still details to work on, in terms of safety, technology and training», he continued, reinforcing that the greatest need for human resources is for the kitchen, dining room, cleaning and direct user support assistants (a total of 60 people).
In this space, where children and the elderly will soon live together, the objective will also be to promote intergenerational relationships.
«We criticize society a lot and forget to reflect on the why of things. And the reason for many problems is the fact that we are losing the concept of family. In the past, we were all educated with our parents and grandparents, with time. But the time of the parents of the boys who are now in daycare is limited. Therefore, why not take advantage of the ties of the people we have here who have time and need these affections? That is what we also want to work on.”
For Patrícia Seromenho, this new equipment constitutes «a great challenge and a great responsibility, which we will do everything to honor with dignity, with conscious and cautious management, to maintain the good conditions of the equipment and promote sustainability in all dimensions of the exploration of their activity".
During the inauguration ceremony, the provider made a point of clarifying how users will be admitted.
In the case of the nursery – which has 46 places and, so far, 60 intentions have been expressed – a hierarchy will be made, giving priority to residents in the parish. Children who have already been admitted to other nurseries will not be admitted to this space.
With regard to the senior structure, Patrícia Seromenho explains that, when «there is a manifestation of need on the part of a family, the multidisciplinary team of Misericórdia (which is composed of a social worker, psychologist, physiotherapist, occupational therapist...) makes a home visit and will assess the condition in which the person is and their need to be better channeled to the existing response».
«57 beds are few. We have, today, in Misericórdia de Albufeira alone, more than 200 people on the waiting list, and therefore, if we open an indiscriminate door just for the will of someone, we quickly have the residential structure full and we do not have the proper response. social», reinforced the provider.
As for prices, Patrícia Seromenho clarifies that, at the moment, «all services are private, with the exception of the nursery, which, by virtue of the law, automatically has the agreement». Therefore, the cost of the user at home is 1531 euros and access to the day center, from Monday to Friday, is 530 euros.
Regarding support, Margarida Flores, regional director of Social Security, guarantees that the Residential Structure for the Elderly, Day Centre, Home Support Service and Nursery at Olhos de Água can count on «total collaboration».
«Social Security is receptive to these new projects and we are going to work together to achieve cooperation agreements. With regard to daycare, with the “Happy Daycare” program, free admission is guaranteed for all children aged 2 and over», he stressed to Sul Informação.
According to Margarida Flores, this new structure is «extremely important for Albufeira», as it is one of the areas where Social Security pays for more places on the lucrative network due to lack of response on the social network.
This Structure, which cost around 5 million and 200 thousand euros, was shared in 1 million and 300 thousand euros by European funds, the remaining amount being fully guaranteed by the Albufeira Council.
«In the social area, this is one of the facilities that gives us the most satisfaction in the use of funds and I would like, therefore, to congratulate the Albufeira Council for the choices in this area», said José Apolinário.
The president of the Commission for Coordination and Regional Development (CCDR) of the Algarve also stressed that «Albufeira is one of the Municipalities in the country that has increased the most in population and is one of the municipalities that, with these investments in the area of crèches, assumes social leadership in terms of response in relation to the number of children'.
The inauguration ceremony of the new Residential Structure for the Elderly, Day Centre, Home Care Service and Nursery at Torre da Medronheira and Olhos de Água ended with the intervention of the mayor of Albufeira, who was very pleased to see that this project, «which took a lot of work», is officially ready to be used.
To the Santa Casa da Misericórdia team, José Carlos Rolo left a thank you for all the work already done and stressed that the beginning of the nursery's response is «very important for the municipality, at this time of the year».
«The population of Albufeira has increased and this increases a series of constraints, making these responses very important», concluded the mayor.
The inauguration of this structure was considered the highlight of the Municipality's day, which was celebrated this Sunday, August 20th.
Photos: Mariana Sedge | Sul Informação
Concerts and celebrations on the Day of the Municipality of AlbufeiraIn addition to the inauguration of the Residential Structure for the Elderly, Day Care Center, Home Support Service and Day Care Center at Olhos de Água, the
Albufeira Municipality Day was marked by concerts and various celebrations.
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