VERTIENTES, CAMAGÜEY.- Although at the beginning only 15 people went there, now, almost two years from its opening in the community Batalla de Las Guásimas — located more than 12 miles away from the municipality capital — the home receives from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., 26 elderlies that live in the town and nearby communities.
It is the Comprehensive Program of Attention for the Elderly, which the Cuban health system uses to prioritize the life quality of this population group, and that in “Batalla” has added the traditional services of stomatology, physiatry, nursery, defectology, podiatry… the initiative of a literary workshop, and with it, the making of the printed bulletin Vidas.
The radio voluntary correspondent, Alfredo Ferrer Abelarde, its main writer, wrote in the first edition that it was born to fill in the void of a local publication focused mainly in stimulating the creative activity of the elderly in the workshop Hugo Carvajal, who was a promoter of the literary movement that emerged in Vertientes during the 70’s. Ferrer Abelarde affirmed to Adelante Digital, in July 2018, the relevance of this project for its members.
Luisa Pereda Domínguez now lives in the Camagüeyan municipality of Florida, but she moved out of her town with the satisfaction of being a part of the literary workshop Hugo Carvajal, in the grandparents’ home Batalla de Las Guásimas.
The director of the home in “Batalla”, Edivia Castelló Ramírez, recently commented for this digital portal about the last bulletin they made, the No. 7; occupational therapy, that encourages crafting with materials and ideas born of the collective devotion and thought; the important work of the Culture sector, the Inder, the hairdresser and the public libraries, as institutions that support the care of the elderly; and the small orchard that the very elderly take care of and provides for them sweet potato, cassava, okra, beans and zucchini.
Likewise, she referred to the courier services offered every month by the pharmacy and the saving bank to the elderly in the health care center that she has led for about three months. She also talked about the capacity of the place, designed for 40 people, and explained that some grandparents have moved to the home in Vertientes, others have moved out of the area, or, unfortunately, have passed away.
Mercedes Carmona García is a neighbor in the community, and in 2017, a few days after the opening of the home, she also talked to Adelante Digital. Ever since October of that year she started going there every morning because that “is a good option, the food and the attentions for us are guaranteed”. Up until today, Merci, as she is fondly called, maintains her opinion, and that is why she has not stopped going to the place that once was a secondary school and today is a sort of gift for the families in Batalla de Las Guásimas.
Translated By Elianna Díaz Mendieta