A guide to healthy aging - Corriere della Sera

INITIATIVE

A guide to healthy aging

There are more than 65 million over-65s in Italy. A “silver dot” to verify the quality of care in Rsa

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More than twelve million people over sixty Italian. Still “young” compared to those who had the same age as only 50 years ago. Still “young” compared to their peers in other countries (excluding Japan), thanks to an efficient public health service so far. A multitude likely to increase because it is happening with regard to the Italian average longevity. In shape and good health for years yes yet, but sooner or later destined to present conditions of frailty, disability and concomitant set of various diseases and chronic conditions. Elderly who may, if family circumstances do not allow otherwise, end their lives in a nursing home (Rsa). And here are not always treated as they should, sometimes bad. Here is the need for a monitoring organization of these structures. The proposal comes from Ancona, where the network “Long-lived Italian” presented his next targets: a guide to healthy aging (“Learning longevity”) and a “sil ver dot” for checking the quality of care in Rsa.

THE REPORT CARD – So older people themselves and their families will be able to choose on the basis of a sort of “report card” compiled by experts. “Long-lived Italian” is the national network of aging research, established by the Ministry of Health with the Marche Region and the Scientific Institute of geriatrics INRCA of Ancona. It ‘directed by Roberto Bernabei, geriatrician and neuroscientist at the Catholic University of Rome. “The manual – says Bernabei – offers a glimpse into the habits of life of the peoples of the oldest in the world, identified through the five ‘All Blue’ with the greatest number of centenarians. Which have been summarized into simple rules of everyday life: from diet to having a purpose, faith, family and social network. With prevention rules. “

STANDARDS – The project for the upliftment of the standard of care offered by RSA, however, is based on data collected in various Italian regions and identifies specific indicators of quality, in order to create a system of certification of the level of care provided by each facility. A tentativo of colmare a vuoto, perché in Italia attualmente not esiste alcun meccanismo of controllo dell’appropriatezza and the qualità dell’assistenza erogata. A dedicated website will know in real time the quality of the services provided in each of the care facilities in the country.