- Title: Cuba's private sector provides elderly care - for those who can afford it
- Date: 14th March 2024
- Summary: HAVANA, CUBA (MARCH 8, 2023) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EMPLOYEE OF 'TATAMANIA' CARE AGENCY DORAYNE GONZALEZ WALKING NEXT TO CLOTILDE RAVELO VARIOUS OF GONZALEZ AND RAVELO PLAYING PARCHEESI GAME (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CLIENT OF TATAMANIA CARE AGENCY, CLOTILDE RAVELO, SAYING: "I am 89 years old. I need help because I fell, I broke my hip, and I can't walk alone. I needed someone t
- Embargoed: 28th March 2024 11:05
- Keywords: Cuba Havana care agency elderly people
- Location: HAVANA, CUBA
- City: HAVANA, CUBA
- Country: Cuba
- Topics: South America / Central America,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA001783313032024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Cuban Clotilde Ravelo is inching up on 90 years old, has just fractured her hip and to make matters worse, most of her family has migrated off the island, leaving behind a pressing issue: Who will care for her?
Enter Cuba's fast-growing private sector. Ravelo's grandchildren - two who live in the United States, one in Spain and another who has stayed on in Cuba - have recently brought on a private caregiver to attend her needs.
Elderly care in Cuba has long been the domain of families - with exceptions for the vulnerable - but as migration and economic crisis unravel the communist-run island's long-held social safety net, some are seeking alternatives in the growing private sector.
Ravelo is among 105 clients who now receive care from the Havana-based Tatamanía agency, among the first private businesses in Cuba to attend the elderly, the disabled and sick children.
Her predicament is not uncommon in Cuba. Nearly one in four on this Caribbean island nation are over 60 years old, according to statistics agency ONEI in 2022. And a record-breaking migration in recent years - stoked by widespread shortages of food, fuel and medicine - means many have been left without help at home.
Tatamanía president Yadira Alvarez said her company began to fill this void in 2022, the first private caregiver approved after a reform the previous year authorized private companies, forbidden since early in Fidel Castro`s 1959 revolution.
The company now provides care in four provinces, including the capital Havana, 24 hours a day and seven days a week in both hospitals and private homes, she said.
Tatamania charges clients between 150-220 pesos (47-69 cents) per hour, depending on the level of care, a rate few in Cuba, where the average monthly state salary is less than 5000 pesos, can afford.
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