The system of elder people needs (particularity and essentiality)

• Main Author: R. I. Sopko
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Publishing House "Grani" 2017-01-01
• Series: Granì
• Subjects: старіння населення; соціальна допомога; проблеми догляду; догляд у громаді
• Online Access: https://grani.org.ua/index.php/journal/article/view/806

The subject of research is the main needs of elder people. Having studied thoughts of Zakarpattya’s elder people and members of their families, ways to satisfy the defined needs has been considered. Urgent needs of the older generation have been estimated and governmental institutions, where person can address and solve the problems of the older generation and their caregivers, have been defined. The conducted research has proved that Transcarpathian elder people are inclined to get the family-based care, as they consider it to be traditional one for the region. The specificity of population’s social protection system functioning has been described. The focus of it is seen in care provision aimed at the enabling of the healthy aging and active longevity of elder people. It should be noted that the present network of specialized institutions was formed in the previous decade, when the problem of aging was not as sharp as it is nowadays. It does not meet either demographic realities, or the needs of the elder people, and it doesn’t correspond to modern strategies of healthy aging and active longevity. Following the problems of the population’s aging and other demographic problems, at present stage the state has to take into account the necessary mechanisms of mitigating them. The future raise of population’s aging will increase the number of clients of different geriatric institutions in the country and, therefore, it will increase the demand for new vivid and productive ways of working with them. At the same time, the state is more interested in the situation when elder people remain active both in economic, political and social life. It is not enough just to improve the level of protection of public health. Modern conditions require making elder people able to remain active participants in public life. Nevetheless, the present practice shows the opposite phenomenon. That is why the state has an urgent task to search for possible mechanisms of facilitation and stimulation of elder people activity, along with searching the possibilities to improve health care, etc. Social work is one of the most promising ways to solve these problems. Social workers can influence these changes greatly and this can allow the state to achieve profound changes in solving the mentioned problems.