Swap medications for dance or swimming lessonsIt is part of a project promoted by several medical centers in Austria that prescribe social activities to their patients to combat loneliness and poverty.
The so-called “social prescription” is a formula financed by the Austrian Ministry of Health to guarantee access to activities that promote “health social” of the people who live isolated, many of them older and with limited economic resources.
Experts recognize the positive influence of personal relationships on physical and mental health in patients whose problemsThey are not solved with medicines.
so far in this year,220 social activities have been prescribed in Austria inthe framework of this program.
AGAINST LONELINESS…
For Daniela Rojatz, responsible for this pilot project in which nine health centers are currently participating, prescribing social activities serves to integrate patients into associationsneighbors and sports clubs where they can mingle.
The doctor tells how she had noticed that some peopleolder people came to their center to warm up or not feel alone.
Thanks to the social prescription we realized that people need someone to talk to,” he explained to EFE in Vienna.
According to official figures, almost half of Austrians over the age of 60 live alone.
“Usually, the needs of the patient are determined by the doctor, who writes the prescription,” Rojatz points out. Then, once diagnosed, the patient waits in a room where a social worker is ready to talk with him.
The specialists, who can also be nurses or therapists, They function as a link between doctor and patient, to whom they refer to groups with activities, which can be self-help or dance or swimming classes, among others.
In many cases, the patient reported relief in their physical or emotional ailments.
Another option is for patients to seek a solution on their own. In that case, the goal of the social prescription is to provide them with “that little push to help them get out of the house”, Rojatz account.
… AND POVERTY
The “social prescription” is also intended for people with economic problems, who receive help from organizations such as AmberMed, that provides health care “ad honorem” to people without health insurance in Austria.
For your template, composed of eight doctors and two social workers, prescribing sports activities is only the last step in a “pyramid of needs”, but at least thanks to them, patients have access to sports facilities that they might not afford on their own.
Telling someone who lives in extremely precarious conditions to pay 30 to 50 euros in a sports club, or to integrate into their local community without speaking German, is very difficult,” Lisa Lehner, one of the AmberMed doctors, explains to EFE. .
“To prescribe social activities, first you have to solve existential problems. Without food, you can’t exercise,” he adds.
many of his patients work illegally and without legal protection, so they do not have public health insurance.
Social Prescribing is just one of several projects that AmberMed funds with the public funds it receives to facilitate access. to health benefits and social activities to marginalized people.
PSYCHOLOGICAL HELP
Within the spectrum of services offered, patients can also receive psychological help and nutritional advice.
One of Lehner’s patients is 36 years old and a single mother of two. He lives in his sister’s apartment.from which he receives the basics to make ends meet, and has weight problems that put his health at risk.
When talking to us, the woman told us that depression kept her from getting out of bed. She felt unmotivated to do things that she used to enjoy, like cooking, walking or taking her children to the park,” says the doctor.
Last June, AmberMed decided to prescribe courses of physical exercise and a diet program.
Two months later, the woman of foreign origin, asked to learn German in order to integrate into social life from Vienna. Thanks to the social prescription program, AmberMed got him a place on a course.
“Since then, women have participated in classes and send us photos of your successes in the course. He, too, is back to cooking and walking once more,” Lehner concludes with satisfaction.
