Summaries 2024. senior citizen policy
Life bracelets save in emergencies and provide a sense of security, day care homes provide care, rehabilitation and companionship, and prevention programmes help to take care of health. Kujawsko-Pomorskie is a region where seniors can count on support. The regional government consistently develops initiatives to improve the quality of life of older residents – one in five is 65 years old or older.
– The needs of seniors are different, just as seniors themselves are different. Our proposals for this age group – the existing ones and those we are preparing – take this into account,’ notes Marshal Całbecki.
Marshal’s care programme – life bracelets
The most spectacular, high-interest element of the Marshal’s care programme is home telecare, based on so-called life bracelets, i.e. mobile devices worn on the wrist to summon help. See New Marshal’s telecare programme for 3,500 people in need of support
Kujawsko Pomorskie Telecentre in 2024:
- 5,404 calls sent from life bracelets, of which 2,843 were alarms triggered by the user pressing the SOS button on the wristband,
- 2 561 fall alarms,
- 296interventions by project participants,
- 88 emergency service calls.
This is complemented by neighbourhood assistance coordinated by the Expert-Kujawy Foundation in Inowrocław and telemedical care prepared by Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń.
Prevention programmes
Kujawsko-Pomorskie voivodship runs a number of prevention programmes aimed at seniors:
Kujawsko-Pomorskie Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Screening Programme:
- aimed at men aged 65-74 years who smoke cigarettes
- 771 screenings were performed (2023), detecting 37 abdominal aortic aneurysms
- since the beginning of the programme in 2012, 8,491 people have been screened, detecting 482 abnormalities.
Pneumococcal infection prevention programme among adults:
- 1,929 seniors have benefited (in 2024)
- a total of 11,059 people have been vaccinated since 2016.
Falls prevention programme:
- aimed at improving physical fitness and health education
- aimed at people aged 60 and over
- 5,191 seniors were covered between 2018 and 2024
- An estimated 1,073 seniors will be covered by the programme in 2025.
This year, seniors will also be able to benefit from these programmes. Details will be announced soon. Read more under the Health tab
Day care homes
There are also places in the region where seniors can spend time actively and creatively, develop their passions and build relationships. In day care centres, older people not only find good spirits, but can also receive the necessary assistance in their daily lives.
Thanks to funding from the Regional Operational Programme in the EU perspective 2014-2020:
- more than 90 such projects have been implemented
- for a total amount of almost PLN 230 million.
Within the framework of one project alone, ‘Kujawsko-Pomorska Sieć Dziennych Domów Pomocy’ (Kujawsko-Pomorska Network of Day Care Centres), co-financed by the European Funds for Kujawy and Pomorze for the years 2021-2027, fourteen new centres will be created and the operation of twenty existing centres of this type will be financed, including in Przysiek (Toruń County), Górzno (Brodnica County), Krzyżówki (Lipno County), Izbica Kujawska (Włocławek County) and Stary Kobrzyniec (Rypin County). In 2024, as part of this project, DDPs were established in the Brodnica district in the villages of Ciche and Michalki.
Seniors in the region – figures and distinctions
Data for 2023 shows that there were 419 people over 100 years of age in Kujawsko-Pomorskie voivodship, including 319 women and 100 men. Of these, 259 lived in cities and 160 in villages. The Marshal of the Voivodeship has been honouring centenarians in the region since 2018; to date, more than four hundred and forty doyens have received the Unitas Durat Palatinatus Cuiaviano-Pomeraniensis medal.
According to data from the Statistical Office in Bydgoszcz, there were 1,990,323 people living in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie voivodship at the end of June last year. Nearly 409,000 inhabitants of the region (243,000 women and 166,000 men) were aged 65 or over, accounting for 20.6% of the voivodeship’s population. The number of people aged 85 and over was more than 41 thousand, of whom nearly 30 thousand were women and 11 thousand men.
Beata Krzemińska
Spokesperson of the Marshal’s Office
7 February 2025