A supported living facility for people with disabilities and lonely elderly people is being created in the Vitebsk region

June 11, Vitebsk / Olga Bogacheva - BELTA /. The first independent living house for disabled people and lonely elderly people is being created in the Vitebsk region on the basis of the Orsha district, the department for labor, employment and social protection of the population of the Orsha district executive committee informed a BELTA correspondent. The house is designed for 6-8 people who are capable of self-care. Residents here will manage their own pensions, run their households, and freely engage in other activities. The peculiarity of the facility is that, despite their full independence, the elderly and disabled people will be under the constant supervision of social workers and medical staff from the nearby 24-hour care unit for lonely elderly people in the village of Tarchilovo, and will use the services of this institution if necessary. Thus, the house allows for solving a dual task: to provide supervision and assistance to those in need and to relieve the increased burden on social workers, who sometimes have to travel ten kilometers to reach their wards. Currently, repairs are underway in the independent living house for disabled people and lonely elderly people. It is planned that the first residents will appear here by the end of this year or the beginning of next year. The project is one of the new forms of social assistance to the population. If it functions successfully, the practice of creating such houses will be extended to other districts of the region. -0-