Any help for elderly person on their own?

Do you have a query on how to get things done in Andalucia, where to find things, who to call? Find out by posting and hear about others experiences.
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fyfin
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Any help for elderly person on their own?

Postby fyfin » Wed Sep 23, 2020 2:54 pm

We have a situation where a friend / neighbour has been left on his own and has health issues. He is not supposed to be drinking, but due to a personal situation, he has probably started again and so on top of everything else (various heath issues copd etc) he is not eating either.
He really needs some sort of care in his home as the hospital simply sent him home (at 2.00am in the morning, in a wheelchair) with no-one there, so a neighbour who has a key had to get p to let him in.
Anyway, his wife (who is separated) is paying for a carer to go in but they are not very well off and she cannot really afford it, and I wondered is there any financial help available in situations like this or help via the Spanish healthcare system.
He is a UK citizen but a Spanish resident so I suspect the answer is no, but any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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Free at Last
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Re: Any help for elderly person on their own?

Postby Free at Last » Wed Sep 23, 2020 4:17 pm

In theory, if he has been registered as a Spanish resident for at least five years, then he may be entitled to help under the Ley de Dependencia. They would have to complete an application form asking for an assessment of his needs and present that to their local Social Services Department (form available to download via the following link):-

https://www.juntadeandalucia.es/organis ... encia.html

A social worker should then contact them and arrange an appointment to visit his home to carry out the assessment, and depending on the results of that some assistance (eg a visiting carer) could be provided. It might not be free, depending on his income.

However, even before the pandemic I had read that it can take a very long time before any such assessment would be carried out (because of backlogs due to the volume of applications and limited resources) and even after an assessment has been done it could be months before any assistance could actually be put in place. With the restrictions due to the pandemic things are probably even worse. But if they don't apply, they'll never know.

Of course all the forms are in Spanish and most likely the assessment process would be conducted in Spanish too.

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fyfin
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Re: Any help for elderly person on their own?

Postby fyfin » Wed Sep 23, 2020 5:32 pm

Thank you, yes, he has been resident for more than 5 years. He only has the state pension plus a small private pension but together they probably add up to as much as some people earn in this region.
Also his Spanish is very limited so I suspect it's going to be a difficult route. His family in UK have been contacted and since I posted some neighbours have volunteered to help.
I fully understand that here in Spain, family are expected to look after elderly relatives but I've often seen this as a reason why older people return to UK.
Thank you for the information. I'm OK myself lol as my Granddaughter has said, ever since she was a child, that she would come and look after me and my wife lol. Now she's 24 years old and still says she will.
A man likes his wife to be just clever enough to appreciate his cleverness, and just stupid enough to admire it

Free at Last
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Re: Any help for elderly person on their own?

Postby Free at Last » Wed Sep 23, 2020 5:49 pm

For people who qualify and manage to navigate the system, the assistance at home service which is provided under the Ley de Dependencia does seem to be very good. In the street I used to live in, a number of elderly people had carers visiting and they provide a very comprehensive service, which includes all kind of housework, laundry, cooking meals, shopping, even walking the elderly people's dogs as well as providing personal care and help with medication and taking the elderly people out for exercise or shopping.

I don't know if there are similar services in the area you and your friend live in, but around here there are a couple of British owned private services which provide home nursing and domestic help, but I'm sure they would be quite costly especially if extensive help was needed. Cruz Roja might be another option worth exploring if they have a volunteer service, I know they do have a teleassistance service to help in emergency situations such as having had a fall at home (they do charge a monthly fee for it, though).

elusive
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Re: Any help for elderly person on their own?

Postby elusive » Wed Sep 23, 2020 7:00 pm

Like free says your Townhall is your first post of call. They have a social services department and can help with this sort of thing.

Ex service the royal British legion can help aswell. Theres some age concern groups aswell. Some in almeria come up if you google them.

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Re: Any help for elderly person on their own?

Postby Manchesteral » Thu Sep 24, 2020 2:36 pm

You don't say how old your neighbour is.

The separation from his wife is likely the root of the problem.

I know of a British neighbour here who is living in similar conditions, he's been here for 4 or 5 years and got divorced from his wife last year and is also not very well off, he's 71 and is clearly on a downward spiral.

He is severely depressed and never leaves his home unless it's to go shopping or to the pub where he hides behind alcohol, unfortunately in the past he has been protected by his former wife who basically did everything for him regarding bureaucracy, filling out forms and attending government offices etc, because he has no more than a few words of Spanish he is unable to deal with the slightest hiccup.

I don't know the answer to this problem and if he is unable, because of depression, to deal with his life then he's clearly up against it.

Due to the pandemic the government agencies have basically ground to a halt and the bureaucratic machine has become even more difficult to negotiate, unless he gets support locally he'll probably fall deeper into the abyss.

I don't really know how he can deal with this, are there no local expat clubs he can join where he could perhaps meet people living under similar conditions, does he own his home, if so the answer would be to sell it, rent an apartment and pay for his own care !

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patricia
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Re: Any help for elderly person on their own?

Postby patricia » Sat Sep 26, 2020 12:53 pm

There is an organisation called Age Concern in Spain run by expats and they seem to be all over Spain.

Here is a link https://www.acespana.org/
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