Mobile teams to assist elderly people living alone in remote villages are organized by the Vitebsk Regional Branch of the Belarusian Red Cross Society

Public activists plan to test the new form of work in the Vitebsk region, particularly in the Surazh zone, which is the most remote from the regional center.

The mobile team includes a nurse, representatives of a public organization, and the bar association. Four times a week, they will travel to rural areas to provide necessary assistance to lonely elderly people and those living alone.

The project is being implemented with the financial support of the Swiss Red Cross, long-time partners of their colleagues in the Pridvinye region. If successfully implemented, it is planned to establish mobile teams in other districts as well.

Currently, organizational issues are being addressed, a schedule of visits is being compiled, and stopping points are being determined. The vehicle will begin operating in the Vitebsk region next year.

Incidentally, the public activists in Pridvinye are already familiar with this form of activity, although it was in the context of working with HIV-infected individuals, visiting areas with unfavorable epidemiological situations. However, considering that 24% of the population in the Vitebsk region are people over 65 years old, with the majority living in rural areas, the regional Red Cross organization decided to develop services for this category of citizens by introducing innovative forms of work.

Natalia Ryzhkova, "Vitebskiye Vesti"