15. Levels of care

Daycare centers for the elderly

One of the social resources for the care of the elderly are daycare centers.

These centers are a geriatric service and family support that offered during the day attention to basic needs therapeutic and socio-cultural from older people affected by certain degrees of dependency, promoting their independence.

Typically, users who request these centers are elderly people with loss of functional capacity (physical or mental).

This service provides individualized comprehensive care, attend to their personal hygiene needs, nutrition, rehabilitation, social integration, counseling, retraining in lost skills..

The objectives of this resource is aimed at the prevention of institutionalization, rehabilitation, maintenance of autonomy and support to families. Although, the main objective is to promote decent living conditions always encouraging their level of independence. Likewise, it also has more specific objectives:

• Prevent increased dependence (rehabilitative and therapeutic activities)
• Provide a framework where you can develop relationships and activities
• Avoid unnecessary and unwanted institutionalization
• Facilitate the conduct of AVD, offering the necessary help.
• Provide social support and care 

Besides all this, these centers offer programs and services that formulate objectives and activities for individualized care and interdisciplinary:

• Prevention programs and health promotion
• Programs psychological area: assessment of affective state and cognitive stimulation activities

In my opinion, all seniors, when lose a spouse or are at risk of loneliness, should belong to a day center, as they have the opportunity to be accompanied all day, interacting with the other elders, doing recreational activities, etc.. Besides all this, the family is certain that his father / mother is feeding well (since they feed there too).

Bibliography

• Rodríguez Martín, M. La soledad en el anciano. Gerokomos v.20 (n.4). Madrid: 2009. Disponible en: http://scielo.isciii.es/scielo.php?pid=S1134-928X2009000400003&script=sci_arttext
• Soldevila Benet, A. Los centros de día para personas mayores. Lleida: Ediciones de la Universitat de Lleida; 2003.