Portugal
This consortium aims to improve the health innovation ecosystem by removing existing bottlenecks, which will be tackled by promoting joint work between public and private actors and bridging the gap between them.
Porto4Ageing’s consortium is composed of four classes of organisations, making up the “quadruple helix approach”:
- Decision makers/health & care providers
- Business/industry
- Civil society/users
- Academia/research
These actors are coordinated together to each respond to a specific aspect of a shared vision and common targets related to responding better to citizens needs for active and healthy ageing in the Porto region of Portugal.
Through their many projects and good practices, Porto4Ageing aims to improve the quality and responsiveness of services to the needs of the citizens for active and healthy ageing.
Ageing@Coimbra is a consortium which aims to enhance the role of the elderly in society and the application of best practices that benefit their general well-being and active and healthy aging. Its main goal is to improve the lives of senior citizens in the Centro Region of Portugal through better social services and healthcare, as well as the creation of new innovative products and services and the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic tools.
At the core of this consortium is their “unique ecosystem” composed of the three axes of education, innovation and research. The combination of these three axes is what makes their ecosystem conducive to the development of best practices related to healthy ageing.
They are also a part of the European Partnership for Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP-AHA) through a number of action groups, such as:
- Adherence to prescription
- Falls prevention
- Remote monitoring of health
- Frailty and cognitive decline
- Age-friendly services
As part of the EIP-AHA, it aims to increase the healthy life expectancy of EU citizens by two years by 2020. It aims to accomplish this through its varied actions in education, innovation and research with a number of smaller, more specialized impacts that can be found on their website.
Running and Walking Centre in Tondela, Portugal (‘CMMCTnd’)
The intervention CMMCTnd targets adults, especially the senior population, of the Municipality of Tondela, Portugal.
The project comprises sessions of exercise (2-3 times a week), in public spaces dedicated for fitness, walking, jogging, swimming, among others. Some activities are also oriented to the promotion of cognition and include cultural events, allowing the establishment of partnerships with local institutions. The intervention also includes the presence of a Sports technician at the Health Unit Centres that orients the beneficiaries from the diabetic medical appointments towards an exercise programme in CMMCTnd. In addition, the presence of three nurses at the CMMCTnd allows for the diagnosis and the monitoring of the beneficiaries, registering potential useful information for the general practitioner or the Sports technician in the “Exercise and Physical Health Bulletin”. There is also collaboration with one nutritionist (training and monitoring healthy eating habits) and one psychologist (working in psychomotricity and cognitive development areas).
The main operational objectives of CMMCTnd are: to disseminate the practice of technically oriented physical exercise; to establish partnerships with the health sector, to identify beneficiaries from medical appointments and introduce them to physical exercise activities in the presence of a Sports Technician; to assess and monitor health parameters; and to register physical performance and health of participants.
The CMMCTnd’s central goal is to reduce the sedentary lifestyle and the isolation of the elderly population in Tondela, through activities designed to promote healthy and active ageing. The CMMCTnd provides a platform for health promotion by providing the space for regular physical exercise activities, counselling, and dissemination of health-related information.
Identifying situations of violence among older people.
The 'Ageing and Violence' project's aimed to identify and characterize the situations of violence (physical, psychological, financial, sexual and neglect) that seniors over 60 residing in Portugal are subjected to in the family context.
Knowledge of the prevalence of the problem in the Portuguese population was acquired through a Portuguese population survey (telephone survey). The information collected from the beginning of the project in March 2011 revealed the characteristics of victims and the risk factors contributing to the occurrence of family violence. A sample of victims from the Portuguese Association for Victim Support (APAV) and the National Institute of Legal Medicine, IP (INML, IP.) was also consulted for the research.
The project's results included the identification of situations of violence occurrence (frequency and type of act) and its determinants, the characterization of health status, living conditions, the psychological well-being and social networking support and help of the elderly population, and the development of a set of recommendations that can influence policy makers and legislators in preventing and fighting violence against older people. The outcome contributed to ageing in better conditions, while encouraging greater outreach and social support to both seniors and their families.
To improve the health of older persons living in elderly care centres.
The aim of the project is to assess and improve the indoor air quality of elderly care centres. With the ageing of the European population, the number of people living in elderly care centres will constantly increase. These people spend about 19-20 hours per day indoors, therefore, the indoor air quality is a special concern and a critical contributor to their health and quality of life. Ageing adults, particularly the elderly, can have weakened immune systems and age-related health problems which make them more vulnerable to health complications associated with indoor air pollution.
The project particularly focuses on the:
- measurement of air quality and thermal conditions in elderly care centres,
- assessment of effects of Indoor Air Quality and thermal conditions on cardiorespiratory health of elderly care centres' residents,
- identification of a subgroup of older persons particularly susceptible to adverse effects of air pollutants, thus posing the basis for preventive interventions,
- evaluation of the association of indoor air pollution in health-related quality of life of older persons.
The project contributes to the establishment of a better living condition of older people living in elderly care centres.