Teams from Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality visit elderly citizens and provide personal care, house cleaning and companionship services.

The Metropolitan Municipality continues its work for elderly citizens. Teams affiliated with the Department of Social Services visit the homes of elderly people living alone and provide cleaning services.

Barber Services Introduced

Staff of the Elderly Services Unit carry out health checks for elderly citizens and provide physiotherapy and rehabilitation services for those in need. In addition, within the framework of the on-site service model, teams have started to provide personal care (barber) services for elderly men who are bedridden.

‘We provide various services for our elderly citizens’

Providing information about the services, Ali Rıza Kaya, head of the Elderly Services Unit of the Department of Adult Social Care, stated that since 2012 the Metropolitan Municipality has been providing house cleaning services for elderly people living alone, and emphasised that they strive to provide the best possible service for the elderly. Kaya said:

“We provide various services for our citizens over the age of 65, especially house cleaning services. In addition, we offer personal care services. Particularly in the summer months, as our elderly tend to remain indoors with limited mobility, we mainly organise social activities to bring them together. From time to time, we also take our elderly on picnics and trips.”

‘We provide in-kind and cash assistance’

Kaya noted that they serve between 200 and 210 elderly individuals per month, adding that they visit their homes regularly every month to provide cleaning services. Emphasising that they provide in-kind and cash assistance for the elderly within the framework of a people-oriented municipal approach, Kaya stated that they support citizens with food parcels as in-kind aid, and with bank cards as cash aid.

‘Our technical services will also begin’

Kaya explained that they try to assist elderly citizens experiencing transportation difficulties by providing companionship services to hospitals and public institutions, and said:

“In the future, in order for our services to be more comprehensive, we are also planning to provide technical services at home. Once we complete the process of establishing our department, our in-home technical services will begin. With these services, we plan to provide simple repair and renovation works at home, ranging from painting and whitewashing to electrical installation works.”