The project to promote Health Literacy in the elderly vulnerable people with a Quality of Life assessment reached 780 people in the Algarve region, between September 2020 and June 2023, and received «very positive feedback», and there is now a desire to continue promoting it in the Algarve and extending it to the entire the country.
The assessment is made by Helder Mota Filipe, President of the Order of Pharmacists, who, on the 28th and 29th of November, was in the region to listen to professionals in this area.
Regarding this project that ended in June, Helder Mota Filipe said that, «from the professionals' point of view, they are involved and consider it an important aspect».
«This was more than literacy, it was intervention. The professionals created skills so that users could better manage their medication, they themselves made changes and showed problems with adherence to therapy and therapeutic duplications, and, therefore, it was a two in one – it was a pharmaceutical intervention and, at the same time, it was to guarantee more literacy so that these situations do not happen again, because users are now more informed and more prepared", he pointed out, in statements to Sul Informação, as part of the visit to Espaço Saúde em Diálogo, in Faro.
The project, inserted in the Espaço Saúde 360º Algarve, involved 780 elderly people from seven Algarve municipalities (Faro, Loulé, São Brás de Alportel, Tavira, Silves, Albufeira and Castro Marim), had 51 partnerships, eight service providers and carried out 1800 activities.
The activities included information sessions on health promotion and disease prevention, nutrition workshops, adapted physical activity and yoga sessions, navigation sessions in the health system, cognitive stimulation, meetings with patient associations, psychosocial care with the team of psychologists and medication review in partnership with local pharmacies.
Given the positive nature of the work developed, Helder Mota Filipe argues that «it would be good for these projects to stop being projects and become sustained practices».
«The project is important to generate evidence, to demonstrate that things work, that there are health gains from this intervention. One Once this has been demonstrated, I think it has to be transformed into a change in practice in a sustained way and there needs to be funding to continue», he told our newspaper.
Jaime Melancia, president of the board of Plataforma Saúde em Diálogo, also highlighted the “potential” of this project, developed in partnership with local authorities, “to reach a population that often does not even know how to improve their health”.
Furthermore, the project to promote Health Literacy and the Health in Dialogue Space meant that elderly people, when they have any doubts regarding their health, do not need to seek emergency care.
«Sometimes, people feel a lack of empathy, support and clarification and these characteristics end up becoming a help to the effectiveness of therapies. Here in the Algarve, we have this type of support, but this is also something that many patient associations do for their pathologies. The doctor, since he does not have time to be with the patient, can therefore give instructions for people to go to these spaces. It is important to people know what their disease is, how they can control it and what services are available that they are often unaware of", he stressed to Sul Informação this responsible.
Having finished the Health Literacy promotion project, Espaço Saúde 360º Algarve is already developing another initiative, more aimed at the Mental Health of the elderly, which is also being a success and for which both Jaime Melancia and Helder Mota Filipe , ask for support from the government and local authorities.
From this two-day visit to the Algarve, in which he had the opportunity to listen to professionals in the area in the region, the Chairman of the Order of Pharmacists takes «more than the concerns», «the positive aspects» discussed about the intervention of this sector in society .
«Despite all the difficulties we are experiencing in the health system, what was most discussed were the positive aspects: the possibility of intervention by pharmacists, the change that is taking place in relation to pharmaceutical services – with hospital medicines in close proximity, with the renewal of chronic therapy, with vaccines, both against Covid and against the flu, and which was a success », he stressed, adding that they were administered more than 3 million doses, around two-thirds in pharmacies.
"This shows that people had the freedom to choose the Health Center or the pharmacies and they chose the pharmacies", he said.
According to Helder Mota Filipe, politicians «are realizing the potential of pharmacies and community pharmacists, regarding services that take pressure off the National Health Service”.
"This causes people resort to, as long as the services are available, às local pharmacies, due to the trust they have in pharmacists, who know them, for ease of access, as it does not require appointments, and for the results that people feel. For all this, I think we are on the right path, that the population gains from this. The Algarve is a good example of how intervention in the pharmacy community generates more value in health», concluded the person responsible.
Leaving the region, the President of the Order of Pharmacists also expressed the desire that this “good example” could be replicated throughout the country.
Photos: Cátia Rodrigues | Sul Informação
Comments