Paula Pimentel, President of the Board of the Union of IPSS of the Bragança district and Vice-President of the Betânia Foundation, wrote an opinion article on elderly care. In the text, she highlights that care homes face an increasingly demanding reality and that caring for an elderly person, especially when they are in a situation of frailty, dependence or vulnerability, requires enormous human, technical and emotional responsibility.
The author argues that the family must remain present, close and involved in the life of the elderly relative, noting that the well-being and quality of life of the elderly person cannot be the exclusive responsibility of the institution. Paula Pimentel considers it neither fair nor appropriate to fully transfer responsibility for the elderly to the care home while simultaneously turning professionals into targets of criticism whenever a difficulty arises.
The article calls for a true partnership between the family and the care home, based on respect, trust, communication and mutual understanding of difficulties. The author argues that care professionals should not be unjustly blamed or criticized without knowledge of the reality of the care provided and the complexity of each situation, although she acknowledges that any errors should be analyzed and corrected.
Paula Pimentel concludes that the elderly person must always be at the center of everything, and that family, institution and professionals must move in the same direction. She emphasizes that caring for those who are vulnerable requires competence, rigor, training, patience, empathy and respect for those who, daily, choose to be by the side of those who need it most.
