• The total budget of the project is near 377 000 leva;

• Health and social services will be provided to elderly people in their homes.

Organizing two homes for elderly people – in Dobritch and Smolyan and in that way provisioning health and social services in their homes, is envisaged in the joint project of UniCredit’s foundation Unidea and the Bulgarian Red Cross that started today. UniCredit is presented in Bulgaria by the largest bank in the country UniCredit Bulbank, the lease company UniCredit Leasing, the consumer financing company UniCredit Consumer Financing, as well as UniCredit factoring.

The project “Home care for elderly people that have remained alone as a result of internal and external migration of their relatives” is part of a large-scale project of Unidea entitled “Migrations”, the aim of which is to increase the knowledge and support to all problems caused by migration. The total budget of the project is near 377 000.

Specifically in Bulgaria we understood that among the groups most affected from migration are the elderly people whose children have left the country. Thus the elderly are left alone, with many health problems and low income. They need qualified health and social services. With the expert support of the Bulgarian red cross we will be able to support the two regions with the most severe problems – Smolyan and Dobritch, said Paolo Cocchi, General Manager Unidea-UniCredit Foundation.

“We are very glad that we won the support of a strong partner like Unidea because the elderly are one of the most vulnerable groups and we think that it is our duty to take care of them, said Hristo Grigorov, Chairman of the Bulgarian Red Cross.

About the project

The project envisages setting up Centers for Home Care in Dobritch and in Smolyan and in that way provisioning of health and social services for elderly people in their homes in order to preserve their independent and dignified life and prevent their social exclusion. The selected regions are among the most affected ones from the point of view of the migration processes, the negative natural growth and the increased illness and death rate as well as high unemployment rate.

As part of the project qualified team of home assistants and nurses has been set up and will undergo a specialized training course for the specificities of care in home environment, realized jointly with trainers from the Public Health Faculty to MU – Sofia and members to the Bulgaria Association of Health Care Professionals. In addition to the staff qualification, the service quality is ensured by the performed individual appraisal of the needs when accepting every persons being taken care of within the project, as well as the regular monitoring on the quality of the provided services.

Over the next two years the care provided within the project will be available to patients willing to stay in home environment and have a GP; elderly people with various chronic diseases requiring control of the physiological indicators – blood pressure, blood sugar, temperature, etc; people with various degree of disability that inhibit their independent way of life; patients in recuperation after suffered heavy systemic diseases – apoplexy, heart attack, as well as recuperating patients after an operation with completed intensive treatment that do not require 24-hour monitoring.

 

The Bulgarian Red Cross will work in close cooperation with representatives of the municipal administration and social institutions in the various locations. The project will contribute to improvement of the quality of life of the elderly in the selected municipalities.

About the migration

One of the main processes of the democratic transition in Bulgaria, is the intensive internal and external migration that started in 1989. According to the official statistics for the last twenty years more than 700,000 people have left the country in search of professional actualization, possibilities for training and higher standard of living. Nor less intensive is internal migration: in 2008 alone it has affected 123,000 people. In addition to the reduced birth rate, urbanization and increased death rate, the migration processes are among the major factors that have contributed to the deteriorated demographic profile of the country and the aging of the population. The relative share of the people above 65 years, the number of which currently is 1 323 839 out of 7 606 551 people living in Bulgaria, is growing. That group is also among the worse affected by the migration processes. Many elderly people remain alone, with multiple health problems, with low income, in need of qualified health and social services.