In June 2021, Francisco Javier Delgado, who since he was a baby he has suffered from muscular atrophy that only allows him to move his neck and some fingers on his hands, undertook from his bed in La Orotava a fight to recognize the right of dependent people to have personal assistance “that prevents highly dependent people from being forced to leave their home, their environment and their family and friends to end up his days locked up in a residence. He wrote dozens of emails requesting information and help, and in December he collected more than 1,100 signatures of support. Together with the Social Work professor of the UL Manuel Hernández contacted Pilar Bethencourt, the coordinator of a pilot project that Acufade, an entity based in La Matanza, had been implementing since June 2021 for the
In parallel, but still without working together, Fran Delgado and Pilar Bethencourt were looking for contacts and experiences in other parts of Spain to try to apply personal assistance models that are already successful in the Canary Islands. In communities such as Madrid, Catalonia, the Basque Country, Valencia or Galicia there are Independent Living Offices and people with dependency can request personal assistance at home to maintain a way of life in which their freedom and self-determination are respected. A job in which Acufade is committed to taking a step further and implementing personal assistance also for people with cognitive impairment.
Acufade created a Personal Assistance and Chosen Life Service from scratch that has not stopped growing and currently has a team of four personal assistants who serve 33 people with functional diversity, including Francisco Delgado. They work in several municipalities on the island, such as La Orotava, La Guancha or Granadilla, with flexible hours and “adapted to the wishes and needs of each beneficiary.”
Bethencourt acknowledges that what they have experienced with this service “has been shocking” for the great changes and benefits they have observed among the participants. Because personal assistance is not home help for basic needs. It goes much further and focuses on the interests of each person, on what can help them be happier and more independent: “Playing dominoes, visiting a museum, taking the bus, going out for a cold drink or some churros in a terrace, visit a friend or family member, go shopping for clothes, tidy the house, run errands, learn to use a mobile phone or an appliance, or go to the cinema, the beach or the pool».
The effects of this tool that facilitates freedom of choice have been so positive among the participants that Acufade only thinks of giving it continuity and helping it grow and expand to the largest possible number of groups. “We would like to generate a shock wave that continues beyond June, which is when this pilot project ends, and achieve accreditation in the Dependency Law service catalog as soon as possible. That it grows and that other entities, such as Afes, in mental health, or Funcasor, with deaf people, can develop their specialized personal assistance services, “says Bethencourt.
The director of Acufade, Elena Felipe, emphasizes that “we are not satisfied with people in a situation of dependency living, what we want is for them to feel alive, and for this there is nothing better than taking the helm and setting their own course towards a life autonomous and chosen.
Next Thursday, May 5, the European Day of Independent Living is celebrated. At 10:00 a.m., in the Graduation Hall of the Faculty of Economics of the University of La Laguna (ULL), in the Guajara Campus, an act is organized to present part of the work carried out by Acufade and its agreement with the ULL, which will be responsible for issuing the technical report that will demonstrate the usefulness of this service and its qualitative and quantitative benefits, as well as its social and economic profitability. Its promoters hope to have the presence of the General Director of Dependency and Disability of the Government of the Canary Islands, Marta Arocha. And in being able to continue working to make the right to personal assistance in the Canary Islands a reality soon.
implementation of personal assistance, thanks to funding from the Canary Islands Government’s Directorate General for Dependency. Thus arose a working group united in the fight for the right to personal assistance and willing to forever change the lives of the large dependents on the islands.
The wish that it doesn’t end in June
This pioneering service for the implementation of personal assistance in the Canary Islands will end in June, but its coordinator at Acufade, Pilar Bethencourt, works “with pick and shovel” with the hope and desire that this experience can continue with the support of the General Directorate Department of the Canary Government, while the necessary procedures are completed to achieve its accreditation as a service covered by the Dependency Law and thus guarantee its future.
