Relatives of patients with Alzheimer’s and other dementias require the City Council of Candelaria to reestablish the transport service for people who receive cognitive stimulation in the center managed by the Afate Association in the municipality, located in the old schools of Araya.
As they explain in a document that they have written to collect signatures, the Consistory informed them on September 1, the same day that activities resumed after the summer holidays, that it would stop providing the transport service and that from that moment “They would have to travel to the aforementioned unit by their own means.”
For its part, the City Council indicates that the transport service was put out to tender but, unfortunately, no company presented itself. Afate has been providing cognitive stimulation services since 2014, within the framework of a project known as the Insular Ring of Social Policies (AIPS), which is financed by the Cabildo de Tenerife, whose aid is managed through the Insular Institute of Attention Social and Socio-Sanitary (IASS).
The circumstance occurs that the majority of people who come to the center depend on their relatives and, therefore, “they need to be provided with an adapted means of transport and a caregiver”.
Thus, relatives of users who come to the Araya unit, which provides a “crucial” service to slow down cognitive deterioration, assure that “many people will not be able to follow the treatment, which can trigger the acceleration of the disease’s progress. ”.
“I had to find my life”
Luisa’s father is one of the Alzheimer’s patients who have been affected by this problem. On the other end of the phone, she explains to DIARIO DE AVISOS that she has had to make a living, “paying for a taxi or asking a family member to take it, because, due to my work shifts, I can’t always take it up myself.”
He details that his father has been attending the activities at the Araya center for a year and he does not explain himself “how they have been able to cut the provision of the service just this year, when there is more budget… I do not understand it, what is this?” .
Luisa is convinced that “the elderly here are forgotten. And don’t come to me now with Coalition, PP or PSOE; they need it, period, without colors”.
“We continue betting on this service”
Sources from the City Council of Candelaria explain to DIARIO DE AVISOS that the transport service for users of the Afate unit located in Araya went out to tender but no company applied.
They maintain that “the City Council is working on making modifications to the specifications to get it out as soon as possible. It is the will of the Government group to offer the service, because we continue to bet on it”. They also specify that the service is free and insist that they are already working on the new tender.
