A total of 9,600 people from the Island participate in activities for people over 65 years of age financed by the Cabildo de Tenerife with one million euros and organized by the town halls. It is the first assessment of these activities to improve the quality of life of the elderly in Tenerife. So far, more than a hundred activities have been organized, including leisure, workshops, improving psychomotor skills and cognitive development, cultural visits and intergenerational coexistence.
In many municipalities, the program focuses on workshops to improve mobility. This is the case of Adeje, Fasnia, Santiago del TeideGüímar, Vilaflor de Chasna, Buenavista del Norte, El Rosario and The lagoon. This last municipality also designed visits and cultural routes for the elderly, like San Juan de la Rambla and Arafo.
Many of the programmed activities take disability into account
The municipalities of El Sauzal, Tacoronte and El Tanque began, for their part, a accompaniment plan for the elderly in their homes, as well as intergenerational coexistence workshops. Likewise, aromatherapy, laughter therapy and music therapy sessions were held in Candelaria and La Matanza de Acentejo, while the programming of the municipality of La Orotava included holding workshops on information technologies, in order to reduce the digital divide that isolates the older population.
The Cabildo de Tenerife recalls that another 15 municipalities of the Island have planned for this year the development of activities programmed with a subsidy from the Cabildo, which suggests that the scope of the program will be even greater.
The Minister of Social Action, Marian Franquet, explains that the program of activities, which are the responsibility of each municipality, is “the result of collaborative work with associations for the elderly or programmed by professionals in the sector.” “Our objective is to promote preventive activities against deterioration and unwanted loneliness suffered by many older people, but also to destigmatize and propose new leisure and free time activities, adapted to the tastes and preferences of a very varied group,” he points out. .
Franquet highlights that disability has been a “determining” factor when designing a large part of the activities. In fact, 11 of the 16 municipalities with which work has already been done specifically planned programs for older people with disabilities, concludes the counselor.
