Care of the elderly in the program area, presented today in Sacile "CrossCare 2.0" an Interreg project.
SACILE, 7th March 2024 – Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto and Slovenia face together the common challenge of the aging population in the cross-border area, 15 partners united to strengthen cooperation and governance of public-private decision-making processes between institutions and key service social and health care operators for the elderly in the Program Area. Launched last October, the “CrossCare 2.0. Integrated and shared strategies for the capitalization of the CrossCare Model", is co-financed with over 529 thousand euros from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), one of the main financial instruments of the EU cohesion policy, and is included in the Interreg Program VI-A Italy-Slovenia 2021-2027 with a total budget of over 662 thousand euros.
At this morning's press conference, held at Palazzo Ragazzoni in Sacile, the presentation of the project. The mayor of Sacile Carlo Spagnol with the councilor Antonella Baldo and the president of Cooperativa sociale Itaca Paolo Castagna spoke for the introductory greetings. Following this, the Joint Secretariat with Michele Becia presented the Interreg Programme, while the project manager Azzurra Lanfranconi highlighted the integrated and shared strategies of CrossCare 2.0. Focus also on the three territories involved - Friuli Venezia Giulia, Slovenia and Veneto - with the interventions of Rossano Maset, director of the Residenza Protetta of Sacile, Tinkara Godec, director of DEOS celostna oskrba starostnikov d.o.o. for Slovenia, Daniele Dal Ben director of the Residenza Francescon in Portogruaro. The role of the public service was illustrated by Katia Pantarotto, responsible for the Servizio Sociale dei Comuni Livenza Cansiglio Cavallo. The presentation concluded with a speech by Gianna Zamaro, central health director, Friuli Venezia Giulia Region.
PARTNER
CrossCare 2.0 is led by Cooperativa sociale Itaca as lead partner and has a partnership made up of 15 local authorities and organisations. There are 6 first level partners: in addition to the leader Itaca, Aps ITIS, Ipab Residenza per Anziani Giuseppe Francescon, DEOS celostna oskrba starostnikov d.o.o., Dom starejših občanov DSO Grosuplje e Azienda speciale Don Moschetta. Associate partner: Azienda sanitaria Friuli Occidentale, Azienda unità locale Socio Sanitaria 4 Veneto Orientale, Comune di Portogruaro, Comune di Sacile, Federsanità ANCI Friuli Venezia Giulia, Servizio Sociale dei Comuni Livenza Cansiglio Cavallo, Združenje koncesionarjev domov za starejše, Zavod Aktivna Starost so.p., Azienda sanitaria universitaria Giuliano Isontina.
THE PROJECT
Lasting 18 months and ending on 31st March 2025, CrossCare 2.0 is a capitalization project of the Model developed with the previous CrossCare project, which today aims to build an adequate response to the phenomenon of aging population, a common challenge for the Program Area, which in the medium term will have a significant impact on health and social inclusion policies in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto and Slovenia.
In fact CrossCare 2.0 aims for a better governance of cooperation and through the promotion of both legal and administrative cooperation interventions, in a multidisciplinary perspective that has the capacity to involve all actors - citizens, civil society actors and institutions - which contribute to the well-being of the elderly, with a view to removing the social and legal obstacles that prevent complete integration.
OBJECTIVES
The general objective of CrossCare 2.0 is to strengthen cooperation and governance of public-private decision-making processes between institutions and key stakeholders of social and health services for the care of the elderly in the Program Area.
Through the capitalization and strengthening of the CrossCare® Model, the project wants to develop shared strategies in response to the common challenge of aging and strengthen the coordination of existing services in the cross-border area.
The innovative approach of the project also envisages the experimental promotion of a dialogue aimed at the creation of cross-border Community Pacts at local level, to support a model of integrated and personalized care of the elderly and their family, in synergy between public and private services, thanks to collaboration with civil society and all the formal and informal entities active in the area.
ACTIONS
There are three macro-actions planned: Modular training, Community Pacts, Experimentation of the new CrossCare 2.0 Model. Furthermore, a neuromotor project will be tested with the intention of exploring new cognitive maintenance protocols. The trial, which will span the summer quarter, aims to verify how much a neuromotor gymnastics protocol can help the elderly maintain their cognitive and psychomotor coordination functions healthy.
Modular Training
The project involves the creation of bilingual guidelines of the CrossCare® Model and a common training path for all partners with the participation of health and social workers, care managers, representatives of nursing homes, local social services, home care services, sector operators, elderly population, caregivers, family members of the beneficiaries included in the trial and informal local actors.
Community Agreements
The strengthening of the CrossCare® Model will focus on the creation of Community Pacts (CPs), the final outcome of a community animation process which could take the form of a network agreement, governed by the public administration, which will see the active involvement of all local authorities and organizations of each area involved, public and private, who will demonstrate their willingness to make themselves available towards elderly population and collaborate to ensure shared care of frailties. Declined in the territorial context, the CPs will allow the continued activation of proximity social networks, as well as the strengthening and formalization of already existing collaborations. The definition of Guidelines for the implementation of Community Pacts is also foreseen, with the provision of multidisciplinary Control Rooms with a mixed public-private team. The CPs will be a tool to promote home care, ensure formal/informal monitoring of elderly people, promote actions to stimulate active aging and prevention.
Testing of the new Crosscare 2.0 Model: Territories and Target
The CrossCare 2.0 Model will be tested in the 6 geographical areas of reference, corresponding to the project operational partners: Cooperativa sociale Itaca in the Residenza Protetta for the elderly of the Municipality of Sacile (Pn);Azienda pubblica di servizi alla persona ITIS in Trieste; Ipab Residenza per anziani Giuseppe Francescon in Portogruaro (Ve); DEOS, celostna oskrba starostnikov, d.o.o in the Municipalities of Brezovica, Ljubljana, Medvode and Horjul; Dom starejših občanov DSO Grosuplje in the Municipality of Grosuplje; Azienda speciale Don Moschetta in Caorle Municipality (Ve).
The target involved in the experimentation represents the "grey band" of the over 65 population not already intercepted by social and health services, in conditions of fragility or vulnerability, with a need for targeted assistance activities to prevent their institutionalization and prolong their placement at home. The pilot actions will be defined by a mapping of the needs and desires of the elderly population through the administration of questionnaires in the six territories.
The trial will involve 55 elderly people over 65, in frail and non-frail conditions. The care manager will collect assistance requests from individual beneficiaries and their family members, to define a personalized home care plan and proceed with the activation of a system of local social networks. The experimentation process will be accompanied by a continuous step by step evaluation by the Fondazione Zancan, which will lead to the drafting of a final evaluation report.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROJECT IN SACILE
In the city on Livenza CrossCare 2.0 will develop with an innovative approach and a focus on all those involved in the care of the elderly. Municipality, Social Services and Residenza Protetta in collaboration with Itaca will carry out both the training modules of the Validation and Gentlecare methods, as well as projects aimed at the psycho-physical well-being of the elderly and operators, who take care of this rich but fragile slice of society on a daily basis. Furthermore, training dissemination projects in schools and new listening spaces are being studied, in the awareness that prolonging the well-being of the elderly represents an essential resource as human capital for the territory.
OUTPUT
Among the expected results is the strengthening of the partners skills, public administrations and sector operators involved, the latter thanks to participation in joint training courses. The training courses are starting up: "Therapeutic arc and polar scheme" (20 March online 9.30-12.30), "Validation" (26 March and 28 March 10-16 in Itis Trieste), Gentlecare Method 22 April in Trieste 10-14 am and 23 April in Pordenone 10am-2pm.
The consolidation of the CrossCare Model and cross-border collaboration is also expected through the creation of Community Pacts for an innovative approach to the care of the elderly; the improvement of services for active aging thanks to the implementation of community strategies with the pilot experience of the CrossCare 2.0 Model between Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto and Slovenia.
INTERVENTIONS
The mayor of Sacile Carlo Spagnol and the health councilor Antonella Baldo support CrossCare 2.0 and follow its developments. The mayor in particular underlines that the project contributes to improving services of Sacile nursing home "because it promotes an innovative approach in the care of the elderly with the integrated and personalized care of them and their family, putting the need at the center of the individual and thus overcoming current systems that only provide standardized services".
Paolo Castagna, president Cooperativa sociale Itaca
“For the second time in an important Interreg project, Itaca has the honor of leading a partnership that has an ambitious program, articulated in a rich training plan aimed both at those who make their profession in caring of the elderly, but also aimed at civil society. Furthermore, through the Community Pacts, CrossCare 2.0 intends to give impetus to the promotion of the territories in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto and Slovenia, to reflect on their social maturity in terms of attention to the elderly. The experimental action will allow the partners to test new strategies for maintaining individual well-being, the central theme of the project”.
Michele Becia, Joint Secretariat
The Program concerns the seven-year European programming period 2021-2027 and is developed with a view to continuity and capitalization with what was achieved in the previous period 2014-2020, which financed 63 projects in the sectors of competitiveness, research and innovation, protection and valorisation of cultural and natural resources and cross-border services. With a financial allocation of just over 88.6 million euros, the Interreg VI-A Italy-Slovenia Program bases its strategy on the following main Objectives: a more competitive, innovative and intelligent Europe; a greener Europe towards a net zero carbon economy; a more social and inclusive Europe for better governance of cooperation.
Azzurra Lanfranconi, project manager, Cooperativa sociale Itaca
“CrossCare 2.0 is the natural continuation of the previous CrossCare project and has the challenging objective, through the planned actions, of increasing and strengthening innovative strategies of well-being and relationships between all those who, in multiple forms, deal with the elderly. The objective is to positively address the fragilities, through dedicated training and consequent experimentation of new protocols, but also the resilience of this part of society which, when placed in the appropriate conditions, still has so much to give to the community”.
Rossano Maset, director Residenza Protetta Sacile
“The CrossCare 2.0 project is based on three pillars, staff training, the preparation of community pacts between all Sacile's stakeholders, and a research with experimentation. In concrete terms, we will proceed with the specific training of operators, family members and caregivers on Alzheimer's disease through the Gentlecare prosthetic method".
Tinkara Godec, director DEOS celostna oskrba starostnikov d.o.o., Slovenia
“DEOS actively participates in the development of long-term care services for the elderly in Slovenia, promotes the education of young individuals, and enhances the competencies of employees through collaboration with educational institutions and the exchange of best practices with organizations abroad. We are pleased to continue our collaboration in the CrossCare 2 project, where we will build upon and expand the achievements and results of the first project. This capitalization project presents an excellent opportunity to reconnect with familiar partners and organizations while facilitating the transfer of knowledge to new partners. We look forward to further collaboration throughout the project”.
Daniele Dal Ben, director Residenza Francescon di Portogruaro
"I express the pride of Residenza Francescon in contributing to the continuity of the CrossCare project in which we believed and invested. The presence and commitment of RSAs in services to the elderly in the area is the element that unites and accompanies, with new and original responses, the needs of the elderly who live alone at home, of the elderly who choose to go and live in protected accommodation, who is welcomed in the day center and who then remains to live permanently at home. A fil rouge which is held on one end by the RSA, but which on the other requires an active role from the community which becomes friend with the elderly person".
Katia Flora Pantarotto, responsabile Servizio Sociale dei Comuni Livenza Cansiglio Cavallo
“Participation in the second edition of the project demonstrates the attention of the Social Service to actions aimed at the elderly segment of the population. As a service that covers the territory, the relationship with partners from different geographical areas is an enrichment for us. We are convinced that what has been structured in Sacile for long time, in terms of innovative activities aimed at the well-being and care of the elderly, can be an important element of comparison, useful for making effective improvements in the daily life of the elderly population, with particular care also to the training of all those who deal with it in various capacities”.
