On 24 September, the District Hospital of Figueira da Foz (HDFF), integrated into the Local Health Unit of the Baixo Mondego (ULS BM), inaugurated a gymnasium in the Internal Medicine Service, an innovative space for the prevention of addiction among elderly people. The ceremony was attended by the Executive Director of the National Health Service (SNS), Álvaro Santos Almeida, who highlighted the importance of this project for the future of healthcare in Portugal.
The new gymnasium was born as part of the European project PreDisc – Innovative model for the prevention of dependency among elderly people: from hospitals to rural areas, co-financed by the Interreg Sudoe programme via the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Its objective is to prevent the functional disability of elderly patients by personalized prescription of physical activity programs during hospitalization and their continuation after discharge, in coordination with primary care services.
During his visit to the hospital in the district of Figueira da Foz, SNS executive director Álvaro Santos Almeida stressed that “innovative projects integrated into international clinical studies, such as PreDisc, are a source of inspiration for the SNS. We want to promote initiatives that experiment with new organisational and management models, thus improving the delivery of integrated health care, adapted to each person at each moment.
The inauguration marks a milestone in the promotion of autonomy for elderly people and reinforces ULS BM’s commitment to innovative, preventive health close to the community.