Caring for lonely, elderly, and disabled individuals living alone is one of the primary tasks of social service workers.
Caring for lonely, elderly, and disabled individuals living alone is one of the primary tasks of social service workers. The State Institution "Territorial Centre for Social Services for the Population of Lepel District" provides comprehensive services, including food delivery, cleaning of homes and adjacent territories, water delivery, meal preparation, and assistance with sanitary and hygiene procedures. Incapacitated residents of our district can receive comprehensive home-based social services.
Social service centre employees work particularly intensely during the virus period. They do everything possible to help the elderly and disabled. Social workers will deliver food and other essential goods at any time and will go to the pharmacy for medicines at the first call.
More than eight thousand elderly citizens and disabled individuals live in our district, of whom 514 are lonely. It is primarily to them that the centre's employees call and visit. We are speaking with Elvira Podlepenkina, Head of the Home Social Assistance Department of the SI "TCSOSN Lepel District".
— Elvira Alexandrovna, how many specialists from the centre are involved in providing necessary assistance to people?
— About one hundred employees.
As is well known, the main recommendation from medics is to stay home. It is social workers who help the elderly and disabled comply with this.
— What does a lonely citizen need to do to receive social assistance?
— Just one phone call, and a social worker will visit and take an order. Food, essential goods, and medicines will be delivered to their home immediately. Our clients learn about this from various sources: via the website, newspaper, leaflets, or personal communication with centre specialists. This information has also been broadcast on television many times. In villages, elderly people are assisted by the chairpersons of rural executive committees, elders, local residents, and also by mobile shop employees. Volunteers from the PRYEU "BRSM" and the Lepel District Organisation of the Belarusian Red Cross Society, who are always ready to help, have also not remained indifferent to the common problem.
I have personally seen on more than one occasion how TCSOSN employees distribute booklets to citizens with necessary information about the services provided by the social service, indicating the operating hours of the "Hotline" and the telephone numbers of the centre's departments.
— In what form is information on coronavirus prevention provided to people over 60?
— Both verbally during meetings and in the form of leaflets. We also inform this category of the population by phone about hygiene rules and maintaining psychological well-being. A database of those in need of assistance has been created at the Territorial Centre for Social Services of the Lepel District. As I mentioned, these are mainly disabled individuals and elderly people living alone. All of them have been contacted by phone or visited at home and informed about the coronavirus situation. Each person has been advised not to leave their home unnecessarily or visit crowded places. We remind them each time about the hotline they can call with any requests.
— Are there already calls regarding food delivery?
— Yes, there are. Active work is underway to identify residents of the district who need assistance. And the centre is prepared for the number of such people to increase daily.
— How can the elderly be protected from fraudsters during this period?
— Assistance to lonely elderly people and disabled individuals living alone is organised in such a way as to prevent fraud. When a call is received from a citizen, we immediately inform them about when and at what time a social worker or volunteer will arrive. We also provide their full name. And they will definitely have their identification document with them.
— And how are the social workers themselves protected from the virus, given that they visit vulnerable categories of citizens?
— Requirements for the health status of social workers have been strengthened, especially for those who visit clients at home. They measure their body temperature twice a day: before the start and upon completion of the working day. The data is recorded and tracked in health status logbooks. All social workers are provided with sterile masks, gloves, and hand sanitising solutions.
— Being alone for an elderly person – what could be worse?
— It is understandable that social isolation can negatively affect the psychological state of elderly people
if you constantly need to take prescribed medication, you should call the central district polyclinic and leave your contact details. A healthcare professional will contact you. They will arrange for prescriptions to be delivered to your home.
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Elderly people may find it difficult to cope with daily tasks without assistance. Wet cleaning, taking out the rubbish, help with clothing, going to the post office… Social workers are currently under a heavy workload. While previously only a few people sought such help, the number of requests has now significantly increased. Before the viral period, elderly people used to go to the shop themselves, as if for a walk, to socialise. Now, however, they are recommended to stay at home.
Social workers visit about a dozen people a day, and it is fortunate if the shop is nearby. They have to carry heavy bags of medication and groceries. Sometimes, orders include not only essential goods.
Perhaps during this period, we all need to be mutually polite and respect the work of the social services. Where possible, we should not keep social workers longer than necessary with unnecessary conversations and requests, as other citizens are waiting for their help.
It is within our power to find out what help an elderly person needs, whether it be a neighbour or a relative, and then to help them. After all, anyone with a kind heart can grab an extra bag of milk and a loaf of bread from the shop. This will be useful even after the pandemic ends, as attention and care for the elderly are particularly important.
Natalia KHROPVITSKAYA.
