The month of October, on the occasion of “International Day of the Elderly”, which is celebrated on the first day of the month, It is inherently the month of the elderly, this event having been established in 1991 by the United Nations (HIM), with the aim of raising society's awareness of the issues of aging and the need to protect and care for the elderly, often forgotten by society and family.
Rogério COPETO
Colonel of the GNR
Master in Law and Security and Homeland Security Auditor
A Guarda Nacional Republicana (GNR) taking advantage of its implementation throughout the national territory, from urban areas to the most remote areas of our country, whose area covers 94% the country and 56% the resident population, with possessing human resources specially trained and motivated, performs a set of activities, in supporting the elderly, constituting itself as a first-line entity and articulating with response institutions, however these are not replacing, getting a huge visibility and consequent recognition, Together these organizations that work with seniors.
We have already discussed this several times, the work that GNR military personnel carry out within the scope of the program Support 65 – Safety in the Elderly, This activity is known and recognized by the entire population, especially older, as well as the entities that are partners of GNR, initiatives in developing, making it likely, the institution that more support and know this fringe of the Portuguese population, which tends to increase every year, forcing the GNR to find solutions and to innovate, to remain in the forefront in supporting the elderly.
One of these innovative initiatives is Operation Censos Sénior, who went to the field for the first time in 2011, with the aim of combating loneliness and isolation among the elderly, and prevent dangerous situations, because of their greater vulnerability condition, following an elderly woman being found dead in her home in February 2011, in Rinchoa, municipality of Sintra and who would have been dead nine years ago, without anyone knowing about his death, whose work has therefore, as the main intention, prevent other elderly people from being found dead, without anyone helping them, because no human being should die without assistance, much less an elderly.
So, Operation Senior Census returns to the field once again, for the 14th consecutive time, between day 1 October and the day 15 November, whose GNR soldiers will update last year's data, when they were flagged 44.114 elderly living alone and / or isolated, with the concern of supporting and protecting the elderly, especially those who live alone and isolated and are often abandoned by their family and forgotten by society.
That is why, is no surprise, that Operation Senior Census was considered in 2012, as good practice, in the study prepared by the Faculty of Human Sciences, the Portuguese Catholic University, on "The Population Aging: Dependence, Activation and Quality” where it is stated that “… Operation Censos Sénior… presents itself as one of the interventions that makes a great contribution to practical knowledge on this topic in Portugal, by cooperating in the characterization of this population at national level and in signaling vulnerable situations that require social monitoring… In Portugal, it is considered as a good practice the work of the GNR, as a project that works as a platform that identifies situations of isolated elderly people in situations of risk and vulnerability and directs them to support services appropriate to their situation”.
Fruit of the knowledge that GNR has about the elderly population residing in its area of responsibility, one consortium led by Microsoft, convidou a GNR cm 2014, to participate in the project Ambient Assisted Living for All (AAL4ALL), which aims to develop an ecosystem of products and services ambient assisted liviof (assisted environment), and that has been validated through a large-scale pilot, held at the Territorial Command Action Zone Évora.
To realize the large scale pilot, It was assigned to the GNR responsibility to proceed with the selection of the elderly, according to the criteria defined by the consortium, having received them in his house several technological equipment, with the task of monitoring a set of signals remotely controlled, for two levels of supervision, a first identified as informal caregiver, consisting of a military GNR and a second level, through the "Situation Room" Territorial Command Évora, whose garrison dispose of a platform for monitoring all seniors entered the pilot.
Taking advantage of the knowledge that the GNR has on the elderly, combined with existing technology to support this population, Territorial Command of the Guard, implemented in 2017 an initiative to support the elderly through telecare, called eGuard, aimed at elderly people who live alone and isolated, for this purpose, cooperation protocols were formalized with the local authorities of the Guarda district, This is an innovative project that guarantees immediate and effective responses, in preventing and promoting the quality of life of vulnerable people, by creating integrated responses, especially in key safety components, the relief and social action, aiming to combat the negative effects of situations of isolation and loneliness, by creating integrated responses and leveraging the synergies that each partner could develop, especially in key safety components, the relief and social action.
The eGuard project, which was created by the GNR da Guarda, has already been, However, extended to other districts with the intention of the GNR Command, that eGuard is present throughout the national territory, so that no elderly person in a situation of isolation or living alone is left without the necessary support.
With the intention to continue to innovate and to respond to all requests made to it, the GNR joined in 2017 to the National Health Service (SNS) in carrying out joint awareness-raising actions with that service within the scope of the Support Program 65 – Safety in the Elderly, with the GNR alerting and sensitizing participants to the adoption of safety procedures, to avoid being victims of crime, in particular situations of violence, teasing, theft and robbery, this awareness-raising action is a multidisciplinary initiative with a comprehensive and integrative approach to the SNS that aims to be increasingly closer to citizens, especially vulnerable.
For this and more, is the men and women of GNR, who contribute daily to improve the quality of life for seniors, who should be awarded the merit of GNR be recognized as the entity that performs more work in supporting the elderly, keeping year after year at the forefront in supporting the elderly.
Note: The text constitutes the exclusive and unique opinion of its author, which only binds to this and do not reflect the opinion or position of the institution where it provides services.
