About 12.5 thousand elderly residents of the Vitebsk region regularly receive social assistance at home

September 27, Vitebsk / Olga Bogacheva - BELTA /. In the Vitebsk region, about 12.5 thousand elderly people regularly receive home-based social assistance, Svetlana Golubkova, Deputy Chairperson of the Committee for Labor, Employment and Social Protection of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, told a BELTA correspondent. This social service is currently the most effective and in-demand form of social service. At the same time, other types of services are also widely in demand among the elderly population of the region. Thus, various types of social and household and psychological assistance are provided to pensioners through territorial centers for social services for the population, functioning in all 27 administrative districts of the region. These structures have 16 round-the-clock care units with 515 beds. Elderly people most often use the opportunity to stay in them during the autumn-winter period. However, given the living conditions that are close to home, many pensioners then remain here on a permanent basis, noted Svetlana Golubkova. The Red Cross Society, hospices and nursing homes also play a significant role in organizing care for the elderly, with a bed capacity currently designed for 740 places. The Vitebsk region is home to 291.3 thousand pensioners of pre-retirement age, including 128.4 thousand lonely and single citizens. The proportion of elderly people in the total population is 23.7%. Social services for pensioners and disabled people who need constant external help and medical care are provided by 15 boarding houses, which house 3.3 thousand citizens of this category. -0-