The days that Patricia went to Olga’s house everything changed. “I’m going to get up because Patri is coming right now,” she repeated to herself, and she prepared to wait for her. She dressed and looked for all the craft tasks that she had left pending and that she finished with dedication and great care.
Olga Martín Regalado is 82 years old, she is from La Orotava, but since 2003 she has lived in Los Realejos, in the La Montaña area, and has been one of the beneficiaries of the initiative launched by the City Council to support, accompany and facilitate participation and active life for people who live alone, who have been helped to recover social skills and remove some fears.
The tasks and activities that are carried out depend on the needs of each user and the area in which they live, and range from going for a walk and shopping to have a coffee in a square, to going to the doctor, to the pharmacy, doing crafts , visiting friends and family or cognitive stimulation.
Olga is 82 years old and widowed 11 years ago. And, although she does not need permanent assistance, her three children have their family, her life, and “I have mine here.” She has her unconditional support and love, but what is difficult is day to day, being at home alone, with the only company of Chati, her dog, since she lives on a street with a steep slope that makes it difficult for her to go out for a walk. a walk, since, in addition, he has mobility problems.
She didn’t want any more animals, but when she saw her photo, she thought she might be abandoned, because her owner couldn’t have her. Therefore, she did not hesitate to take her to her house. Now Chati is her shadow, she follows him everywhere and pleases her with stunts with which she shows off to her guests. She prepares food and knows how to use her mobile phone without problem, she sends audio messages and photos of her to those close to her.
“I hope the service doesn’t disappear”
Last year they offered him the service, he loved it and this year he did it again, and “he loved it again,” he jokes. Especially since she has made very good friends with Patricia García Fariña, the social integrator, and it shows. He only asks “that they leave Patri and that the service not disappear”, since he has just finished the agreement with the Cabildo that allowed it to be launched, although the City Council intends to assume it as its own starting next year.
Patricia went to her house on Mondays and Wednesdays, and the time she stayed varied, the same as with the rest of the users. At first they just talked, but later they got excited about crafts to the point that Olga has become a true artist. It has been a discovery for herself, because she never liked him.
He started painting by chance five years ago, as a result of a knee operation. She was in the hospital and one of her daughters gave her a backpack with a book of mandalas and crayons. “I made a face at him because I had never painted in my life and I didn’t understand why I had to do it now,” she says.
However, it started and never stopped. Every day she gets a while, as a kind of therapy, and she proudly shows the calendars that she has colored and a big book of flowers. Precision, concentration and a taste for combining colors are qualities that he has in abundance.
A depression made her leave him for a while until Patricia came into her life and she was enthusiastic again. Not only to resume painting, but to dare with boxes to store jewelry, balls for the Christmas tree, wooden decorations and some surprises for Three Kings Day.
Patri, as she calls her, is a handyman, she has always liked crafts, although she can’t share them with all her users. “You also see the hobbies and possibilities of each person and you adapt. She likes it and that helps, ”she maintains.
“That when I was older,” Olga clarifies, “because she didn’t do it before, not even at school”, which she left when she was just a girl, since she had to take food to her brothers in the fields. That is why she wanted her children to study and she achieved it. One of her daughters is a teacher and another is a social worker, and her son did not want to pursue a university degree, but he finished high school “and he knows.” As a mother, she can proudly say “mission more than accomplished”.
“If she had been able to study, she would have her career. His head works very lucidly, he is a person who has many interests despite the fact that his physical condition does not allow him to do more things ”, corroborates Esther Lorenzo Vidal, psychologist of the group, which also includes the social worker Laura García Luis, an administrative assistant and seven women with a degree in social matters.
For Laura it has been her first contact with the profession “and it couldn’t have been more gratifying. I hope all jobs are like this one,” she says.
The young professional indicates that the pandemic left many consequences in society in general, but, above all, in people who are alone. Thanks to this service they began to go out again, meet up with acquaintances, return to neighborhood associations to carry out activities, celebrate their birthdays and go for walks. “It has been a help in that sense and has enabled many people to become excited again and acquire a routine”, adds Laura.
