The final conference of the project “1st Telecare Social Protection Service for elderly people in Montenegro and Serbia” jointly implemented by the Home for the Elderly Bijelo Polje, the Center for Social Work Novi Pazar , with the support of the municipality of Bijelo Polje, and financed by the European Union within the Cross-Border Cooperation Program Serbia – Montenegro 2014-2020, was held in Bijelo Polje on February 27, 2023.
The director of the Home for the Elderly Bijelo Polje, Radosav Nišavić, welcomed the project partners and those present and said that the Home for the Elderly Bijelo Polje, through grants from the European Union, is developing innovative social services for the elderly in the territory of the municipality of Bijelo Polje together with partners from Serbia. He pointed out that the Telecare virtual service for the elderly is the future in the health and social protection of the elderly in these areas.
Adnan Dizdarević, director of the Center for Social Work Novi Pazar, thanked the Home for the Elderly in Bijelo Polje and the representatives of the municipality of Bijelo Polje for the partnership and successful cooperation through two implemented cross-border projects. These projects resulted in the exchange of experiences of two institutions of a social nature and the introduction of innovative services for improved social protection of the elderly in Novi Pazar, i.e. in the Republic of Serbia.
Ivana Šuković, Head of the Directorate for Service Development and Professional Supervision of Social and Child Protection Institutions, pointed out that the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare of Montenegro supports all projects that through innovation contribute to better social protection of the elderly and deinstitutionalization of institutions housing the elderly in Montenegro.
Project coordinator Slobodanka Prebiračević pointed out that through the project worth 213,357.25 euros, of which the contribution of the European Union was 181,353.66 euros, two Telecare centers were established, one in the Home for the Elderly Bijelo Polje, the other in the Center for Social Work in Novi Pazar .
A total of 30 elderly people from Novi Pazar and Bijelo Polje received smart watches, which transmitted information about their health status to Telecare centers via special software. The information was processed daily by a staff consisting of a doctor, a sociologist and a psychologist. The staff communicated with them visually through tablets and computers for 12 months and took care of their mental and physical health. In addition, the entire staff and in-home caregivers conducted more than 300 home visits during the implementation period of the project. By providing care at a distance, simple social protection for the elderly is offered on request – without the usual waste of time and costs, Prebiracevic pointed out.
At the request of a large number of elderly people from the territory of the municipality of Bijelo Polje, and current beneficiaries of this innovative social service, the Home for the Elderly Bijelo Polje submitted a request to the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare of Montenegro for the licensing of this service, so that the service would be of a permanent nature, concluded Prebiračević on at the end of the presentation.
