Support For The Elderly In Mijas

THE Departments of Foreigners and Social Inclusion of Mijas Town Hall, together with social groups and the Local Police, are leading a network of help for foreign elderly people in Mijas.

The Councillor for Foreigners, Roy Pérez, and the Councillor for Social Inclusion, Hipólito Zapico, held a meeting with representatives of the different groups and social agents that make up APEMEX, the programme to help elderly foreigners that has just celebrated its first year in Mijas.

“This working group is aimed at people who have come to Mijas after their retirement and who have no family in our municipality, people with mobility problems or with some illness and who have no one to help them in their daily lives”, explains Pérez, who has stressed that in its first year of life, “we have sought formulas between the town hall and associations to provide these people with all the necessary tools so that they do not feel alone”.

Zapico said that this programme “arose from a need that we detected in Social Services. Through the local police we received reports of citizens, mainly British, who were elderly and alone. During these meetings we share all the possible cases that may arise among our elderly foreign neighbours with the aim of being able to help them”. He added that over the last few months, “we have dealt with different situations, from accompaniment or help in carrying out different medical or banking procedures, to the repatriation of a person”.

The APEMEX working group is made up of the councillors of Foreigners and Social Inclusion and groups such as Age Care, Red Cross, British Benevolent Fund, Age Concern, the Lions Club of La Cala, the British Legion and the Local Police of Mijas.

All of them meet every three months with the aim of continuing to perfect a network of help that includes: bureaucratic procedures, medical transfers, emergencies, translation and legal services or groups of companionship with volunteers so that the beneficiaries of the programme can socialise with other elderly foreigners.