Avoid unwanted situations of loneliness among the elderly in Arona. That is the objective of the Pequeños momentos program that the southern city council has launched and which already has some twenty users, although it is intended to reach fifty in the medium term, according to the forecast of the Senior Citizens area, which ensures that it has the staff necessary to meet the growth in demand. The initiative was launched in 2018 with great success and, after being cut short by the pandemic and the lack of personnel, it is now being resumed with all the guarantees.
From activities in the homes themselves to walks and procedures in the street, this is what the home help staff offers through a service that not only helps to alleviate the loneliness of users and stimulates their cognitive abilities, but also allows them to detect possible problems. or needs of the elderly.
“In the period that the program has been running, we have detected a great need to speak among our elders, even with their families; They are the ones most affected by the hectic pace of life that we lead and they deserve to be heard and cared for”, Nizamara Domínguez, head of the area of the Elderly, Dependency and Disability of the Arona City Council, told this newspaper.
His department has carried out a study throughout the municipality to detect the points where older people who live alone reside, a phenomenon that is perceived to a greater extent in the nuclei of El Fraile and Las Galletas. “We accompany them to the pharmacy, the supermarket, the senior center or the library to read a book,” explained Nizamara, who underlined how “enormously grateful” users are with the service.
Experts insist that older people are particularly vulnerable to loneliness due to common factors at this stage of life, such as the death of a loved one (especially a partner), the loss of social roles (retirement or emancipation of children) and a higher prevalence of chronic or disabling diseases, which limits activities and mobility.
The Elderly Area of the Arona City Council highlights the advantages of the Little Moments program, including improving the quality of life of users, promoting their autonomy, facilitating relationships and communication at home, trying to maintain physical intellectual capacities, support access to social resources, help with daily tasks and detect any need that presents indicators of social vulnerability.
Councilor Ruth Lorenzo recalls that “the accentuation of individualism and indifference towards the people who live around us, with the idea of not going where you are not called, leads many of our elders to remain anonymous, and this process isolation is greater with the loss of their partners, friends or acquaintances, the difficulty of families to take charge and cognitive or physical deterioration.
For his part, the mayor of Arona, José Julián Mena, highlighted the importance of “mitigating a phenomenon such as loneliness, which is increasing as the years go by and, therefore, affects the elderly in a very important way Township”. In his opinion, “a society is measured by how it treats the most vulnerable and, in that sense, this program is an act of justice for those who have dedicated their best years to us.”
