Respite care

Yes this one is only 20 mins away.

I have sent them an email making enquiries.

Thanks

Yes this one is only 20 mins away.

I have sent them an email making enquiries.

Thanks

Mmm... Email is really a hit and miss in Portugal, mostly a miss. If it sounds like a good solution to you, just go there. They do say in their site that they do short term.

There is also the old hospital in Tábua. Usually this has a waiting list.

There is a large network of care homes (lars) which may be able to help.

Several local towns/villages have a day center especially for older people. Meals, and sometimes activities are laid on. Some of these day centers also do meals on wheels. (Midões does)

The lars and day centers are often the same place, with the day visitors combining with the residents during the day, and then being bused home in the evening.

If you ask at your health center they should help. Most have a person whose main job is to arrange such things. A kind of social help officer, but I don´t know the official title.

We have used all of these services with aged relatives, and were most impressed.

Tondela is a rich place, by local standards, so there should be something there.

Alan

Thanks Alan/Lobito.

We have had a reply from the place on the Caramulo and they have invited us to go and visit. They charge 800 euros per month - we only need 10 days.

So when we take Jenny back to see the Diabetes Consultant in Tondela on 22nd Feb I will ask her about support.

We have been back to the UK twice since Jenny came over but she was more self reliant and the neighbours kept an eye on her but now she cannot be left alone here. The only other alternative is for me to stay here and my husband to do the trip to Santander/UK and back on his own.

Mmm... Email is really a hit and miss in Portugal, mostly a miss.

I know it's slightly off topic . . . but when I saw this I thought I would ask . . . WHY is it such a 'miss', here? It is one of the banes of my life . . . living in the sticks I don't have the time to go everywhere in person . . . and sometimes a quick email enquiry is the easiest option - especially in Portuguese - and yet, even when it is about wanting to bring custom to a company, there is seldom any response.

Why, why, why.

It just makes me feel that they do not need business, do not value customers (so why would I use them); and I also wonder why they bother to have an email address in the first place.

So, if you have time to explain . . . I would appreciate it, as it really makes me so frustrated, and I would like to understand why replying to an email is such a problem here. (And I am generally a very calm, patient and easy-going sort of person - but this makes me ).