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.

More information