A comprehensive day care service for elderly citizens has begun to be implemented in the Vitebsk region on a systematic basis, the Head of the Department of Social Support for the Population and Stationary Institutions of the Committee for Labour, Employment and Social Protection of the Regional Executive Committee, Vera Astapenko, informed a BELTA correspondent.
The implementation of the service has already started in a number of districts of the region: Orsha, Postavy, Liozno, and some others. It is available both at home, and in day and 24-hour care departments, and in other departments. A service passport has been developed, and the hourly cost has been determined. The individual comprehensive day care includes a wide range of services, in particular, provision of a sleeping place (if it is a day care department), assistance with daily living, eating, washing, dressing, changing diapers, accompanying on walks, and basic rehabilitation.
"Essentially, it is about the opportunity, for a certain fee, to provide comprehensive hourly care for an elderly person who has no one to look after them at that time. For example, a person has been discharged from the hospital after a stroke but still needs care, or has a broken hip, or relatives have to leave an elderly person with dementia unattended for a while - situations vary. An important point is that we focus either on non-working pensioners who have not yet reached the age of 60, or on citizens in the process of obtaining disability status. That is, those who need care but cannot yet receive it as a state-guaranteed social service," explained Vera Astapenko.