Going to a day centre once or twice a week can help older people to live in their own homes for years without being institutionalised, a Dublin community hospital has found.
Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital was once a general hospital but now functions as a community unit. It has 19 permanent residents and 20 day centre places. People attend the day centre for one or two days a week. A social worker, Ms Anna O Laoghaire, said yesterday that because staff could spot health and other problems and contact health and social services on behalf of those attending, their needs could be addressed at an early stage. This enables some people to live in their own homes for years longer than might otherwise be the case. Visitors to the day centre also keep in contact with residents who may have lived on the same street.
Ms O Laoghaire was speaking at the presentation to a resident, Mrs Elizabeth Kennedy, of a framed page of The Irish Times published on the day of her birth, May 3rd, 1900. Earlier this year, Mrs Kennedy donated her £2,000 cheque from the President to Focus Ireland for the benefit of homeless people.
A spokesman for the East Coast Area Health Board, which runs the hospital, said yesterday its work was part of a general policy strategy to enable people to live at home with the help of community services.