The Cabildo creates new resources to improve the quality of life of the elderly with intellectual disabilities, which will be managed by San Juan de Dios. A specialized service will promote the active aging of 31 people. Of these, 20 will be in a specific unit and another 11 in two enabled houses. The Institute for Social and Socio-Health Care (IASS) allocates annual funding of 1.7 million euros, with the Government of the Canary Islandsin the provision of services for dependents that includes the total management of 71 places. The Minister of Social Action, Marián Franquet, and the manager of the Psycho-pedagogical Center of the Hospital Order located in Vistabella, Juan Manuel de León, visited the facilities.
The active aging unit, with capacity for about 20 places, provides older people with disabilities with new possibilities for an active, healthy life and in continuous interaction with their environment and with society, as explained by María de la Rosa, the psychopedagogical director of the center. In parallel, for those more independent people, the hospital provides two houses with support, with 5 and 6 beds respectively, in which they live together and where they carry out daily tasks that help them train in skills and acquire the maximum degree of development. .
1.7
Millions of euros
The annual financing that Acción Social, through the IASS, contributes to the San Juan de Dios Psycho-pedagogical Center amounts to 1.7 million euros.
Marián Franquet highlights “an innovative initiative that addresses a new profile, such as the elderly with disabilities and behavioral disorders, which did not exist before because the life expectancy of this group was lower.”
The new resources are launched to guarantee the quality of life of older people with intellectual disabilities or behavioral problems, and also of those who, even when they are younger, have begun a process of deterioration and premature aging.
Franquet adds that “Our purpose is to give them the necessary support so that, without leaving their environment and within their possibilities of autonomy and decision-making capacity, they can have as normal a life as possible.”
María de la Rosa explained that the idea is to “accompany people with intellectual disabilities in the different stages of life and make available those instruments that allow them to do so with the highest levels of well-being, health and integration.”
“This is a new profile of the elderly that arises due to the increase in life expectancy”
The IASS manager, Yazmina León Martínez, and the head of the unit of the Institute’s Dependency, Beatriz Durán, also participated in the visit.
The San Juan de Dios Psycho-Pedagogical Center began operating on October 1, 2009 and has a built area of 3,413 square meters.
Since January 2018, the Center has a unit for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), where 12 users are cared for. This project has the collaboration of the Cabildo through the IASS Dependency Care Unit). In 2012, the first support home was opened as a pilot for preparation for independent living. In 2020 the second came and this year the third practical experience begins.
71 users asking for support
The Hospital and Psychopedagogical Center of San Juan de Dios is in charge of a total of 71 users. It manages 9 day care places and 62 residential care. Of these, 12 are for people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). All these users have great support needs, since they have an intellectual disability and associated behavioral disorders. For this reason, part of the already existing infrastructure in San Juan de Dios has now been used to create new services, financed by the IASS, that attend to different needs in a specialized manner. Now they focus on the elderly with intellectual disabilities. The main objective of this initiative now is to promote and promote the active aging of this group through various services, always based on life experience and taking into account the degree of independence of each person. | JDM
