Nursing homes respond to social needs

Abstract

Polish and European society is aging which means that more and more persons will require permanent or temporary care. According to CSO data, persons of retirement age accounted for about 1/5 of Polish society in 2015. According to demographic projections, their share is to increase. In the face of the increasingly aging population, the alienation of persons of retirement age is a more and more acute problem. A larger scope of care achieved through the development of new institutional solutions may be a response to the elderly’s needs. Care Farms, which are introduced in Poland – following economically developed EU Member States, including the Netherlands – are one example of such a solution. They are part of elderly policy which is a response to a social need, i.e. the social inclusion of the elderly, the sick, those in need of support. The elderly, which are often lonely, need to be encouraged to start being socially active, even to be presented with a pattern of changes. Lack of integration applies primarily to numerous peri-urban rural areas. In addition to identifying the problem, the study aims at analysing and assessing elderly policy, and proposing new social and health policy instruments to sustain the elderly’s activity and social inclusion. The study contains specific examples of effective elderly policy, which is successfully implemented in other EU Member States, and examples of activation by holding integrative seminar and workshop meetings. Such forms of activity serve to establish and maintain contacts, and to improve the quality of life. At present, several Polish agri-tourism farms extended their offer to include care services for the elderly. Such a form of activity is not only a response to the elderly’s needs, but also a way of improving the financial standing of an agricultural family by, among others, diversifying sources of income.