Getxo Zurekin, community accompaniment at the end of life

Toni Codina on 17 May 2022

A local community network that supports and accompanies people who are in a situation of advanced illness, offering a model of health, social and community care to improve their well-being and quality of life that goes beyond the resources and capacity of the health and social services systems.

The network acts in different areas: raising public awareness of the importance of care and support for dependent people or those at the end of life; training neighbors in palliative care; and promoting research to foster a paradigm shift in community care.

The network also provides information on the resources available in the municipality in relation to palliative care and the situation of people with advanced illness, in the form of a local observatory that seeks to detect support needs based on a pioneering collaborative methodology where citizen participation is key.

Getxo Zurekin believes in the strength of the community and in networking among people of the same population to take care of each other, to reach where public services cannot reach.

Characteristics of innovation

Lab, Aging, Bank of innovations, Cross-cutting intervention, Fully inclusive cities, Group intervention, Integrated care, New model of intervention, Proximity care

Localization

Getxo (Basque Country)

Partners / Funders

Getxo City Council and Justice, Equality and Social services Department of the Basque Goverment.

Genesis

Getxo has a population of 80,000 inhabitants, 31% of whom are over 60 years old. A certain number of these people are in a situation of dependency or advanced illness, and that is why the project aims to improve the community care system, since loneliness is one of the main problems affecting many of these people and public services cannot satisfactorily cover this need for support and accompaniment.

Level of implementation

Getxo Zurekin has developed a map with all existing resources (compassionate map), as well as a directory of all companies, associations and foundations that can accompany people in need. Since 2017, it has been developing an integrated care system that involves socio-health and community coordination of all the agents involved.

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Vila Veïna, a new public community care system

Toni Codina on 3 May 2022

A new public care system in the city of Barcelona that aims to achieve a model of social and health care that is smaller and closer to the users.

To achieve this, it structures the service in a set of “Super Islands” of care, which encompass a group of houses and neighborhoods of between 10,000 and 30,000 inhabitants, with a reference point located in an open community space (for example, a library) to manage the needs of service users in an integrated manner. Thanks to this new innovative service model, professionals enjoy greater autonomy in the organization and management of their work, since they know the users more closely and are able to deal more directly and satisfactorily with all of them.

Each Vila Veïna has the essential services and benefits related to care in a centralized manner, in order to be able to deal with them closely. It also has emotional support groups and a resource bank for the care of children and the elderly, which provides material such as crutches, cradles, wheelchairs and other items necessary for the care of children and the elderly. It also offers legal and employment advice for caregivers and families in need, as well as talks and outdoor activities. The aim is to provide caregivers with access to information about existing services, as well as to create communities of care and proximity.

Each Vila Veïna has a professional who dedicates his or her working day to promoting networking, programming activities and attending to citizens in relation to care. The new profile of this professional is essential in innovation and requires a set of skills for community activation, as well as knowledge of municipal administrative systems and other administrations.

The project is aimed at the entire population living in the territory, because it is based on the idea that ‘we all take care of each other’, and the goal is to achieve a more caring community with all the people who are part of it.

In short, it is an innovative model that humanizes services and contemplates the participation of people, both caregivers and those receiving care, who are part of a community network and co-responsible for the collective welfare.

By 2022 there will be 12 Vila Veïna spaces in the city of Barcelona, and the goal is to have 115 throughout the city in the future.