The Barcelona Aging coLLaboratory (BALL) aims to create innovative solutions, involving end-users, to improve the quality of life and health and social care of older people. The first project of the BALL, presented today in the Pere Virgili Sanitari Park, is a humanized robot that will help patients who cannot feed themselves, offering them a solution adapted to their needs.

Barcelona, September 26th, 2022.- Aging with the highest quality of life and the best health and social care. This is the main objective of the Barcelona Aging coLLaboratory (BALL), the first Living Lab focused on providing innovative solutions for the elderly that are launched in Catalonia and that has been driven by a wide representation of the estates of civil society.

Today there has been a presentation to the media, in the Pere Virgili Sanitari Park, of the physical headquarters of the DANCE and of its first project: a humanized robot that will help those who cannot feed themselves. This robot is co-creating with end-users, who are instrumental in knowing what they need and thus being able to offer them a solution that fits their characteristics.

In addition to providing patients with a custom tool and greater autonomy, the robot will allow to automate one of the most complex tasks of hospital and residential care logistics, thereby reducing the overload of healthcare personnel, optimising the time and quality of service.

The DANCE, a platform of innovation around aging

The ageing of the Catalan population continues to grow at an accelerated rate and it is estimated that by 2050 one in three people will be over 65. Likewise, according to data from the Institute of Statistics of Catalonia, if the current care model does not change, the dependency rate of the elderly will also increase, from 28.9 % in 2021 to 44.3 % in 2040.

The Living Lab has been driven by ten renowned entities that represent the main areas of Catalan society: Health (Parc Sanitari Pere Virgili and Vall d’Hebron Research Institute), robotics (Institute of Robotics and Industrial Informatics), university (Blanquerna – Universitat Ramon Llull and Universitat Oberta de Catalunya), social (Fundación iSocial), private company (Group Efebé, Qida and UniversalDoctor) and associations of the elderly (Fatec – Federation of Associations of the Great People of Catalonia).

This project operates under the innovation model known as the quadruple helix, where different entities and members of a community (city, business, knowledge centers and administration) join together to build together solutions that are capable of promoting the socio-economic growth of the territory.

“The DANCE is a space or methodology of co-creation involving older people, from the outset, in the design, development, implementation and evaluation of products and services intended to promote their autonomy, integrate them into the community and reduce dependencies and chronicities”, explained by Dr. Marco Inzitari, director of Integrated Atention and Research of the Sanitari Park Pere Virgili and professor of the UOC.

Dr. Inzitari, who is one of the project’s ideologists and promoters, states that “at a time when life expectancy is increasing more and more, but not quality, the ultimate goal of the Living Lab is to put people in the centre and to take control of their health and their life”.

A robot that improves the relational autonomy of patients during meals

The first robot prototype to be presented today has been adapted to software and hardware level to assist people with difficulties in feeding themselves. Designed by professionals from the Institute of Robotics and Industrial Computer Science and the Pere and Virgili Sanitari Park, it has involved all the institutions signed by the Living Lab collaboration agreement. In February, participatory sessions were held with professionals and patients from the Pere Virgili Sanitari Park, where they set out the needs to which they believed the robot should respond to make it more human. His contributions served to build this prototype.

Soon, patients in the Sanitari Park with different difficulties preventing them from eating autonomously will participate in the first pilot test of this humanized robot prototype that is done in a real environment, the hospital, which is where the robot will initially apply.

In this test phase, a group of professionals will conduct interviews with patients to check their degree of satisfaction, as well as closely observe nonverbal reactions during the test. Your responses will be very much taken into account in the final development of the project. Now, the robot is very simple, but in the future, among other functions, it will be able to recognize the patient’s facial gestures and even verbally interact with them.

According to its creators, the robot must contribute to improving the relational autonomy of patients during meals, providing greater choice (in rhythm, type and amount of food), a better image of oneself (increasing self-confidence during eating time), and a larger margin in the dialogic sphere (favoring forms of negotiation about how and what is eaten). Another advantage that the use of the robot will have is that care professionals will be able to obtain much more data concerning the patient’s current nutritional state, which will allow health care to be more personalised, adapting it to each person’s needs and characteristics.

It should also be borne in mind that the administration of meals generates a high-pressure environment because of the burden of dependency on older people, and even more so at such a sensitive time as a result of the increase in the number of people in hospital with a higher degree of dependency and the shortage of professionals in the centres. Our goal with the robot is to be able to dispense more careful and personalized treatment to patients, and reduce the stress of health personnel,” said director of Integrated care and Research at the Pere Virgili Sanitari Park. In addition, it should be borne in mind that the project’s goal is for the robot to be a support rather than a substitute for care personnel, so the robot will never be left alone with the patient.

Josep Carné, president of the Federation of Associations of the Great People of Catalonia, a non-profit entity, made up of volunteers and grouping the associations of the elderly of our country, explains that “although the idea of a robot that feeds the elderly initially pushed us back, we cannot turn our backs on technological advances and more, if they are intended to be a help”. Also, Carné considers that the fact that users play a key role in defining the characteristics that the robot must have is very positive.

The physical seat of the DANCE: a House of Thought

Living Lab is located in the same area of the Pere Virgili Sanitari Park and is where several participatory dynamics will be performed. Thus, from brainstorming meetings with all ageing-related actors (patient, professionals, research institutions, public administration, private companies, etc.) challenges will be identified in this area. Sessions will also be held to find innovative solutions to these participatory challenges and dynamics in order to develop them with the end

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In the week from 4 to 8 October, professionals from 5 iSocial member entities took part in a meeting in Dublin, Ireland, with other European bodies specialising in the care of youth mental health, within the framework of the StepForME project, an Erasmus+ project that began ten months ago and is led by the iSocial Foundation.

StepForME aims to exchange best practices in the use of new technologies in the field of mental health for young people. It aims to learn ways to bring about a more community-based approach to the care of young people with mental and emotional health problems, to find out the role new technologies can play, and to provide training and methodological tools to the professionals that attend them.

For five days the participants of the Joia Foundation, Atra Group, Support Girona, Maresme Foundation and Ampans Foundation were able to share good practices and knowledge with other professionals from ChanceB (Austria), Tenenet (Slovakia), and Aunua (Ireland). In addition to meeting some other Irish entities working in the field of mental health of young people. The meeting was also attended by a researcher from the UAB’s CERSIN- Center for Studies and Research for an inclusive society, who is also part of the project consortium supporting the creation of formative content and managing project research.

Beyond the formal meeting times, the participating professionals were able to enjoy activities related to the mental health and disability world in Ireland, such as attendance at the “No Magic Pill” play, a plea for the right to independent life by actors and actresses with a physical disability; or the presentation of the Jigsaw organization, a pioneer in mental health in Ireland; as well as cultural activities and visits.

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A total of 25 Social Services professionals from the Vegueria of Girona have been following a new edition of the training course “From Person-Centred Care to Self-directed Support” of the iSocial Foundation since 23rd September. The participants are social workers and social educators from the professional teams of the county councils of Alt Empordà, Garrotxa, Gironès and Baix Empordà.

The course consists of 8 workshops taught virtually, and is part of the training catalogue of the Catalan Association of Municipalities (ACM). During this year 2022, 212 professionals from 27 Basic Areas of the vegueries of Central Catalonia, Terres de l’Ebre, Alt Pirineu-Aran, Ponent and Penedès have already taken the course.

In addition, this September, 27 professionals from the Àuria Group, an important group of social economy entities from Igualada that support people with intellectual disabilities, special difficulties, risk of exclusion or vulnerability, have also taken the course. They design specialised training programmes, itineraries for incorporation into the labour market, day care services, therapeutic occupation, residential care, home care services, leisure services and volunteering.

The course “From Person-Centred Care to Self-Directed Support” aims to raise awareness of the European model of Self-directed Support, which seeks to guarantee and preserve an approach of supporting and accompanying people who turn to basic Social Services in their decision making, so that they have the possibility at all times to make effective choice and control over how the action or support plan is organised to achieve the results agreed with the professionals, based on their wishes and their rights.

In recent years, the approach of person-centred professional interventions, known as PCA, has been consolidated in Social Services. But today we know that it is not so much a question of putting the person at the centre and having professionals make decisions with their interests and wishes in mind, but rather of offering them the support they need to be able to make their own decisions. And this is what the European model of Self-directed Support seeks to guarantee.

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This September, the Alba Group approved its membership of the iSocial Foundation as a partner-collaborating organisation. With this new incorporation, there are now fourteen third-sector organisations that are members of iSocial, and it is the first time that a social organisation from the Lleida region has joined.

The Alba Group is currently made up of six entities: the Alba Association, the Qualia Leisure Cooperative, the Alba Jussà Cooperative, the Alba Futur Foundation, the Alba Sports Club and the company Alba Inserció. Its origins date back to 1975 in the city of Tàrrega, where it still has its headquarters today. The group’s social services currently benefit 3,891 people, mainly in the regions of Urgell, La Segarra and Pallars Jussà. It has 585 professionals, 79 of whom are people with disabilities, 495 members and 341 volunteers. The group’s services are very diversified, with programmes and activities in the areas of education, day care, mental health, employment, training, guidance, educational leisure and housing.

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