Experts say we will need more in the coming years nursing homes rather than school.
President of the Gerontological Association of Serbia Nataša Todorović tells "Vreme" that we will need more services in the community, not only nursing homes.
"This includes geronto housewives and special services, such as day care centers for the demented, because some people do not want to place their family members in a home," says Todorović.
Old people in villages without health care
He also adds that the aging of society is influenced by demographic trends.
"It's not just an increase in the number of old people in the population, but rural-urban migrations, which create pockets of that population, so that the old people in the countryside remain isolated from society and access to services." "Old people in the countryside have the right to health services, but they cannot get to them," says Todorović.
As a result of depopulation and migration, certain health institutions, especially primary health care (health stations and clinics) in rural areas of Serbia are closed, which leads to a difficult availability of these services to the rural, mostly elderly population. Home care and assistance services in these areas are also rarely established due to the small number of inhabitants and the sparseness of the area.
Integrated services at the local level, which include help for geronto-housewives, palliative care and care for patients in the terminal stages of the disease, are not sufficiently developed, there are not enough geriatric beds and opportunities for institutional care of these people.
Therefore, mobile teams of doctors, social workers and other professional staff will be needed.
"We proposed that when medicine is finished, there is a mandatory internship of one year, which would be outside the cities," says Todorović.
The "Vremena" interviewee also points to the problem of labor migration from Serbia to Western Europe.
"Our nurses and carers are leaving. Although ninety percent of services come from family members, so we rely on them, they are not an infinite resource either. Because you have a change in family structure, people have children later, they decide to have one child", says Todorović.
Ageing in all policies
One suggestion is to take aging into account in all policies.
"That means we have long-term care." As we age, we become more and more functionally dependent, we need greater care services. Then aging in education policies, we should also take into account the fact that we educate staff who deal with older people", says Todorović.
It is important to recognize both formal and informal caregivers.
"Not only should we give them a higher salary, among other things, but we should recognize formal caregivers as someone who does essential work, be paid enough and have psychosocial support, because they do a very difficult job."
It is not easy to watch someone in pain and dying every day", says Todorović.
He adds that in Serbia the profile of geronto housewives is women over fifty years old.
"You don't have young women doing that." We also have to adapt the labor market, and not have them work on the black market.
Informal caregivers should also be trained. When they look after someone with dementia, in most cases nothing is known about it. Nobody teaches them how to communicate, what to do", says Todorović.
These are, as he explains, education and respite services.
We discriminate against ourselves in the future
Considering the very bad position of old people in Serbia, it is necessary to change the image of aging and old age.
"The elderly are not passive recipients of care. They are also someone who contributes to this society. We must fight against ageism. Ageism is the only form of discrimination where we discriminate against ourselves in the future. Because at some point we will be your old self. We must promote intergenerational solidarity wherever we can, which is very important, and invest in healthy aging.
When I say healthy aging, it starts in kindergarten, with healthy lifestyles, solidarity, volunteerism, with everything that we need to teach children throughout their lives", concludes Todorović.
Nursing homes are getting more expensive
In the last three years, the prices of accommodation and services in private homes for the elderly have increased by 10 to 15 percent. After private homes raised their prices, state-owned homes increased them by 30 percent at the beginning of the year. It is the first price increase in eight years.
It was a few days ago one of the homes for the elderly and infirm burned down in the village of Vojka, near Stara Pazova, for which it turned out that we did not have a work permit.
The president of the Association of Free and Independent Trade Unions (ASNS), Ranka Savić, tells "Vreme" that many homes in Serbia operate in this way.
"We as trade unions have faced this problem, every third or fourth home is illegal," says Savić.
More than a third of the elderly without help
According to the 2019 population health survey by the "Dr. Milan Jovanović Batut" Institute for Public Health, slightly more than a third of the elderly population stated that they have serious difficulties in performing daily household activities.
37 percent of them have an unfulfilled need for support, that is, about 170.000 in absolute numbers. Gerontohomes provided by the state provide assistance to just over 16.000. Almost one in ten elderly residents have serious difficulties with dressing and bathing. 44,8 percent have an unfulfilled need for these services.
Changes are necessary in the health and social system, so that as a society we can respond to the needs of increasingly elderly citizens.
When it comes to realizing the right to health care, as stated in the special report of the Commissioner for Equality, "realizing the right to health care should not be a problem for any citizen, regardless of place of residence, diagnosis, age and other characteristics."
Prejudices against the elderly hinder their social inclusion and can prevent them from fully participating in social, political, economic, cultural, spiritual, civic and other activities.
Huge life and work experience is neglected, which could serve as an inexhaustible resource, worthy of respect, not only for the young generations, but for society as a whole.
