The Council of Tenerife enables 240 specialized home care places for the elderly and dependent people throughout the Island. It’s about a new service, which has been in operation since last month, although its preparation dates back to the beginning of the year. Result complementary with the help provided by the municipalities in homes (one does not cancel the other), reinforces this attention and provides a broad portfolio of professionals. From physiotherapists to psychologists and from nurses to social workers. With a budget of 6,331,546 euros for two years (2023-2024).
The Island Corporation, through the Institute of Social and Socio-Health Care (IASS), promotes this initiative that promotes care by professionals for people in vulnerable situations without having to leave their environment, as well as providing a break for non-professional caregivers. Hence the design of an individualized comprehensive plan, with 50 monthly hours of specialized care per person. The service portfolio includes personal care, health promotion, psychosocial support, rehabilitation and integration.
The president of the Cabildo, Peter Martin; the Minister of Social Action, Marián Franquet; the manager of the IASS, Yazmina Lionand the head of the Institute’s Dependency Unit, Beatriz Durán.
Pedro Martín made it clear that “we neither announce nor make electoral promises, but we report on the implementation of a real service, which already exists and from which elderly and dependent people throughout our geography benefit.” He explained that it is a personalized service that has 240 places, of which 190 are for the elderly and the other 50 for the disabled. “It is the first service of these characteristics that is implemented in Tenerife to promote the well-being of the most vulnerable people through the care of professionals from the socio-health sector, who will act according to the needs required in each case,” added Martín.
Complementary. The island president stressed that this new home care service is complementary and collaborative when it comes to improving the home help provided by the municipalities. It is the sense of providing specialized services that did not exist until now. «We seek that whoever receives the benefit is as autonomous as possible and avoid alternatives to consider from another rung of this coordinated structure, such as transfer to residences. Ideally, he should continue to live at home, with his family.
Adapted. Marián Franquet pointed out that the objective of the Cabildo with this service “is to adapt the resources to the needs of the elderly in each of their stages” and not the other way around. “We have come across people who took up residential positions when, with proper care, they had the chance and, furthermore, they wanted to stay in their homes,” he said.
The island councilor emphasized the benefits that this program brings “not only to the people who are eligible for care, but also to their environment and to the families that work as non-professional caregivers. Now they are offered a respite, with the peace of mind of knowing that their relatives are well cared for, at home.
Tested. The IASS manager recalled that this service is part of a pilot project, in which a small number of 20 restricted places were enabled, mainly in the Metropolitan area. “Now we are reaching out to the entire Island so that people who so wish can stay at home as long as possible and enjoy their families and their surroundings.”
Hiring. Both León and the head of the Dependency Unit, Beatriz Durán, stressed that the development of this program entails the hiring of 110 socio-sanitary professionals. They highlighted the good reception that the service is having as well as the technical complexity that its implementation has entailed, both due to the characteristics of the care provided and the people to whom it is directed. Beatriz Durán recalled that “we have made more than a thousand calls to carry out this selection of 240 places, which” has a vocation for continuity. There have been very exciting moments, she valued, “like that of caregivers who cry at the possibility of combining a break with the guarantee of good care for the family member.”
Awarded to the company Clece for a period of two years, the Specialized Home Care service has financing of 6,331,546 euros, of which 46% corresponds to the Dependency Agreement, signed by the Cabildo de Tenerife and the Government of the Canary Islandsand the other 54 percent are own funds provided by the Island Corporation.
Dependence. The places in this service have been granted to people who have been recognized as having a Promotion of Autonomy, within the dependency lists. In addition, the IASS Unit has reserved a small percentage to deal with emergency cases. Two batches have been made, one for the elderly, with 190 parking spaces -90 in the Metropolitan area, 60 in the North and 40 in the South-, and a second with 50 parking spaces, divided equally between the North (including La Laguna ), and the South (counting Santa Cruz).
The Minister of Social Action emphasized the saving that supposes the cost per person and year of this service. It is estimated at 13,190 euros. Franquet explains: “If the price of a residential space is on average 28,000, we are talking about 15,000 euros less in spending.”
