Benidorm expands its network against loneliness

Benidorm City Council has taken another step in its campaign against loneliness among the elderly. The Department of Social Welfare wants the neighbourhood associations in the city to be involved in Project Compass, a community preventative initiative that helps find and support older persons who are in dangerous situations or at risk of being alone. Ángela Zaragozí, the area’s councillor, and workers from the department met with members of the Neighbourhood Council to explain how the project would work and ask for their help. The goal is clear: to make this project bigger and find more people who need help. Zaragozí talked about the results so far: “Since this program started, we have been able to find, help, and support 261 people, more than half of whom have been sent to other Social Welfare programs to improve their situation, well-being, or quality of life, which is very important to us.”

Being close to neighbours is important for detection.

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The city official thinks that neighbourhood associations might be “a very useful tool for reaching more people.” The goal is to use the fact that these groups are close to and know their communities well to “expand the network of volunteers and collaborators” who are currently working on the project. The goal of Project Compass, which started in 2018, was to find older people who live alone and don’t have relatives or close friends. The goal was to keep this loneliness from turning into isolation that could gravely impair their health and quality of life.

The initiative needs a large network of volunteers and partners spread out around the city in order to work. These include health centres, pharmacies, banks, the Red Cross and Cáritas, and regular neighbourhood stores. Many of these places have signs on their entrances that make it easy for people to tell them apart. The process is simple: if one of these helpers sees someone who could be lonely or alone, they tell the Department of Social Welfare. Then, city workers go to the person’s house to check on them and give them information about the services and resources that are available to them. Zaragozí says, “That’s why it’s so important for small businesses, pharmacies, and well-known people who live in the neighbourhoods to work together. We can find people who might be in this situation and start to take action.”

After this first meeting with representatives from the associations, the next step will be to show the Compass Project at the next Neighbourhood Council plenary session. There, all council members will learn about how the programme works and what its goals are. The goal is to make the collaborative network available to all neighbourhoods in Benidorm and make sure that no elderly person goes without help because they don’t have an ID.

Author: Derek Appleton