May 4, 2023
News
Rural regions in Moldova are often home to lonely seniors. Young people often move abroad for job opportunities, leaving behind relatives who are unable or unwilling to leave. They often face loneliness, poverty, and inadequate health and social care. One of the lonely elderly women is 73-year-old Raisa from Taul village. Thanks to a home care centre opened by Caritas Czech Republic in Moldova, she is feeling much better.
Hope for lonely seniors
Raisa was born with nanism, a growth disorder. Because of her disability, she suffers from several other conditions such as speech problems and arthritis. But Raisa's biggest difficulty is walking. Without the help of others, she cannot obtain her basic living needs; Raisa lives alone in her modest house in northern Moldova and has no relatives who would help her. Thanks to the services of a home care centre that Caritas Czech Republic has opened in the neighborhood, Raisa is being taken care of.
Caregivers from the St. Juliana centre visit Raisa's home at least five times a week. "We help Raisa with grocery shopping and cleaning. She has no heating or sewage system in her house, so we bring her water from the well and firewood," explains Larisa, one of the caregivers. In addition to household help, Raisa also receives medicine, hygiene products, and sheets. "We take her to our centre regularly with the help of our disability-friendly car. She gets a haircut and her nail done here. We also do her laundry,” explains Larisa the services St. Juliana center provides for their clients.
Raisa is very grateful for the help. "I always look forward to when the caregivers come to visit. They are my only company and take very good care of me. The caregivers even call me to make sure I am okay and that I locked the door for the night,” says Raisa happily. Regular visits like this make lonely people feel much better.
Home care centres provide health and social services to seniors
Caritas Czech Republic in Moldova has opened 11 home care centres within the country. In addition to social support, the centers also provide health services. It is difficult for local seniors to make ends meet, and it is particularly costly for them to go to the doctors for regular check-ups as the hospitals are often located far from their place of residence. We provide telemedicine services to people like Raisa, so they can use a tablet to connect with doctors and consult their health conditions with them. Telemedicine saves them expensive and physically demanding visits to the hospital.
The local health and social services system suffers from an outflow of workers abroad. At the same time, more and more seniors need this help. Thanks to our initiative, the profession of home caregiver has been established in Moldova, which will relieve the overburdened system and is also a great hope for people like Raisa.
We provide home care centres and telemedicine services to Moldovan seniors thanks to the financial support of the Czech Development Agency.
