Fears of follow-up costs

Elderly project shrunk: “State lacks foresight”

In Hallein, there are now only five instead of nine nurses on duty.

(Bild: Diakoniewerk / Braunsdorfer)

The "Community Nurses" project will save the public purse more than it costs in the long term, advocates in Salzburg emphasize. They see the state's refusal to contribute to the project as short-sighted. There are likely to be noticeable consequences.

A fall in old age can be the beginning of the end." Senior citizens often deteriorate completely after fractures to the neck of the femur. They can no longer live at home. Fall prevention would have spared them that.

The experience of a "community nurse" from Bergheim is familiar to those affected, relatives and mayors. Many find the work of the nurses all the more important. "Advice can significantly delay moving into a care home, which is by far the most expensive option," says Michael König, Director of Diakoniewerk Salzburg. Such far-sighted innovations are necessary, emphasizes König. In the long term, they would save (the public purse) more than they cost.

Johann Grubinger, Mayor of Thalgau, agrees. "I am annoyed. I don't have the foresight," he says about the state's refusal to help pay for the project. Thalgau is now co-financing it itself. "Maybe they'll change their mind in a few years," hopes the head of the village.

His counterpart Alexander Stangassinger in Hallein finds drastic words. Because there are now fewer nurses for Salzburg's senior citizens, he expects the consequences to be clearly noticeable over time - including the waiting lists for retirement homes.