Getafe has expanded its activities programme for seniors to the months of June, July, and August for the first time, with over 450 participants.
The Getafe City Council has launched a summer activities programme aimed at seniors, which took place during June, July, and August and brought together more than 450 participants. The initiative, driven by the Seniors Department, aimed to provide spaces for social interaction and active leisure during the months when municipal offerings are usually suspended.
The Councillor for Seniors, Gema Cáceres, explained that in addition to adapting the centres as climate shelters, it was decided to expand the activities every week of the summer so that these residents would not lose their municipal reference. Participants were organised into groups with similar profiles and needs, in the municipal centres closest to their homes.
The goal was to prevent sedentary behaviour and maintain an active routine even during the summer, a period that, according to the council, can be excessively long and detrimental to the wellbeing of the most vulnerable seniors. The activities were facilitated by professionals from the House of Seniors and included gerontogymnastics, cognitive exercises, and therapies such as music therapy, biodanza, or daruma.
Seniors from the Psychomotor Stimulation programmes, Occupational Therapies, and the Contigo programme, aimed at combating unwanted loneliness, as well as other vulnerable residents, participated. During June and July, more than 40 groups were formed in municipal centres across all neighbourhoods of Getafe; in August, the activities moved to the Almendro Day Centre, the Polvoranca Street Therapy Centre, and the Civic Centres of Las Margaritas and La Alhóndiga, which were set up as climate shelters.
The programme concludes with a participation report that the City Council considers successful, laying the groundwork for repeating the experience in future summers.
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