“It is necessary to strengthen home care, but to do it really and concretely, otherwise the only answer for frail elderly people, who can decompensate due to environmental factors, such as heat and cold, will always and only be the emergency rooms, structures that are increasingly struggling. And this will happen on August 15th as in other critical periods of the year”. This was stated to Adnkronos Salute by geriatrician Roberto Bernabei, president of Italia Longeva, who underlines the importance of “getting serious about implementing home care as foreseen by the Pnrr”.
“In fact, even on August 15th – Bernabei reiterates – there will be many elderly people in the emergency rooms and certainly not because they are stored or parked, but because it is clear that extreme temperatures affect their health. Normally, people die more in the winter, because the cold can kill, but so does the heat. The heat wave we are witnessing is destabilizing the fragility of the elderly, causing objective damage for which, since there is still a lack of response from the territory, people will continue to go to the emergency rooms and for good reasons: dehydration, drops in blood pressure, possible infections or organ failure. Problems that are only managed in the emergency room”.
This consideration, continues Bernabei, “pushes us once again to say that we need to strongly strengthen home care, not in a surreptitious manner, but by guaranteeing a service capable of providing the answers that are needed and making the best use of the opportunities provided by the PNRR for this”.
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