Latgale faces shortages in elder care places and staff

Latgale lacks places and workers to provide care for older people, with around 70 people waiting for a place at a Daugavpils nursing home, according to an LSM investigation into ageing and social care in the region.

The Daugavpils home has 170 residents. Daugavpils and Rēzekne do not plan to build new nursing homes, but intend to improve existing facilities. A private home for older people is due to open in Višķi, in Augšdaugava Municipality.

Monthly care costs in Latgale range from just under 800 euros to nearly 1,500 euros. The region’s median age is higher than Latvia’s overall, although the number of older people is not growing. Care providers are seeing more clients with serious illnesses, functional impairments and dementia. Mobile care has helped 86-year-old Irēna remain in her apartment.

For 85-year-old Lucija, staying in her small sauna building is a matter of choice. Her house burned down 30 years ago, and although she could move to an apartment in the nearby village of Ilzeskalns, she does not want to leave. She says she prefers her home, where she has a dog, a cat and a garden.

Lucija grows potatoes and other produce, but says winter is difficult: the building gets cold, collecting firewood takes strength and there is little money left for food. She has no children, and her husband died 35 years ago. At the Pilcene nursing home, a sauna has become a place for residents to talk and socialise.