The City Council activates a year-round 24-hour service for home help users

The Consistory currently provides coverage to 730 people who have a recognized degree of dependency or vulnerability.

The Consistory has introduced significant improvements by increasing the hours of care and technical assistance, and will soon implement a digital care services platform.

The Estepona City Council has launched a new service designed to attend 24 hours a day and throughout the year to users of home help. It is a free telephone hotline where these people can make inquiries or report any type of incident.

This Customer Service Center is one of the innovations implemented in the new municipal home help service contract, which is aimed at users who have a recognized degree of dependence or vulnerability.

The year 2025 has begun with an increase in the number of beneficiaries of home help, having closed the month of January with a total of 730 registered, compared to the 665 with which ended last year 2024, between users of the dependency law and the concerted plan. The Home Help Service (SAD) is a social benefit designed to help people with limited autonomy or in a situation of vulnerability who need support at home, to stay in the usual home with appropriate conditions of coexistence in their family and community environment.

The councilor attached to the area of Social Welfare, Maria Aguilar, highlights the “importance of this service provided by the City Council for all people, the vast majority of them elderly, who have support needs, and also for their families. Not only from the point of view of accompaniment, but also with other means that we provide and that we have expanded”.

The main profile of the users of the Home Help Service in Estepona is a woman between 80 and 89 years old, according to the data of the balance of activity last year. Of the total number of people assisted, 68% were women, compared to 32% men. Most of these users are between 70 and over 90 years of age.

Another of the improvements that will be introduced soon, and in which the first tests are already being carried out, is the implementation of the VERA project, Virtual Social Center, an innovative platform for the provision of digital assistance services. This is a proprietary technological development driven by the company that provides the service, which aims to contribute in an agile and simple way to keep the elderly active and connected with society as a whole and to meet all their needs. In this way, their interrelation is made possible while preventing possible physical and cognitive deterioration through a wide range of services: virtual day center, life habits control, falls sensor, communication system with family and friends or recreational activities, among others.

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The City Council has improved the care provided by the home help service by increasing the number of technical aids available over and above the mandatory number. These are measures that facilitate the movements of users in their homes, such as electric orthopedic lifts of up to 180 kilos, 30 articulated beds with rails, anti-decubitus mattresses, 40 shower and toilet chairs with wheels, walking aids (walkers, crutches and canes), as well as artificial intelligence home devices that include a virtual assistant, voice control and movement sensors.

In addition, complementary shock cleanings have been increased and there is an additional 60,000 euros in funding, 1,200 additional pedicure and manicure services per year, as well as chiropody and hairdressing services. Two devices of the OTIOM program for the promotion of autonomy for the onset of dementia and location of people with Alzheimer’s and/or cognitive impairment by GPS signal are also incorporated. Five adapted games are also offered: Motor Dexterity Exerciser, Giant Tactile Dominoes, Sensory Stimulation Set and Wrist Exercisers.

From February to December last year, a total of 19 technical aids were granted on loan to service users: 8 lifts, 10 articulated beds and 1 bath chair. In total, 16 lifts, 18 articulated beds, 8 walkers, 8 wheelchairs and 3 bath chairs have been distributed in the homes. As technical improvements, 829 hours of podiatry and 460 hours of hairdressing were carried out in 2024. In addition, three bathroom adaptations were made for three service users, and one insect fumigation and three shock cleanings were carried out in different homes.

The home help service is a social benefit granted and financed by the Junta de Andalucía and managed by the local councils within the framework of the Dependency Law. It guarantees the permanence in the home of dependent people through comprehensive and specific care with qualified and supervised personnel who carry out a set of preventive, training, rehabilitative and care actions for people and cohabitation units with difficulties to remain or develop in their usual living environment.