Grupo Ballesol has opened the doors of its first residence in the Basque Country in the heart of Bilbao. Located in what was the old San Francisco Javier Hospital, Ballesol Bilbao has 119 beds and offers services fully adapted to the needs of its residents.
Ballesol Bilbao is a modern, comfortable and innovative residential center inaugurated this summer and conceived both for permanent stays as for temporary stays and recoveries post-hospital. Their 6,600 m² of surface area houses state-of-the-art service facilities to guarantee the well-being of residents, “Like the gym, which has magnetotherapy machines for the functional recovery of hip fractures and osteoporosis, currently unique equipment in the city”comment Yosune RodriguezCommercial and Marketing Director of Ballesol.
Ballesol Bilbao has spacious and bright spaces, resulting in a very welcoming center
The center, which will generate around 80 jobs when it is fully occupied, has spacious and bright spaces, resulting in a very welcoming building. “with many corners that provide privacy for residents and visitors”, stands out Maria Jose Gonzalezdirector of Ballesol Bilbao.
It has seven floors equipped with underfloor heating and exclusive rooms, such as an apartment-style suite room, which has its own seating area and amenities such as a refrigerator or coffee machine. The ground floor houses the reception, a seating area that has direct views of the street, the main dining room, facilities for various activities, and a central patio that allows activities such as gerontogymnastics and “it is also used as a seating area with visitors when the weather permits”, comments María José González. The façades of this patio have a cladding in the form of a gradient in green and bluish tones in the form of a vertical garden that provides a feeling of freshness and naturalness.
For its part, on the first floor is the library, also with its own terrace, where a billiards table will soon be installed at the request of the residents themselves. The top floor has a capacity for 12 beds in 8 rooms for the most dependent residents, 100% assisted, where the medical department has also been installed. “It has all the comforts such as a lounge, its own dining room and an outdoor terrace to enjoy the outdoors so that residents do not need to leave the plant”indicates Yosune Rodríguez.
As in the rest of its centers, it offers in its Bilbao center a familiar treatment and personalized services to its residents, with comprehensive and individualized care. «Our motto is ‘Feel the family’ and for us the most important thing is that our residents are up to date and live in the 21st century. We try to get them to wake up every day with the illusion of continuing to be active thanks to the work of all the professionals, who offer them Premium care.”highlights the Commercial and Marketing Director of Ballesol.
The feeding is another fundamental aspect in It has its own kitchen and dining room with a hot cart area to serve the dishes at the right temperature. Yosune Rodríguez affirms that «for our residents It is a joy to share a table and enjoy the food with a very varied gastronomic offer, since we periodically include innovative proposals such as Asian menus, Galician days, days of cocido maragato… All the details are taken care of, both from the nutritional point of view and from the presentation of the dishes, and we have incorporated robots of textured food for residents with swallowing problems, allowing them to recover the taste for eating».
As in the rest of its centers, Ballesol offers a familiar treatment and personalized services to its residents at its Bilbao center
The offer of recreational and leisure activities it also plays a leading role in the day-to-day life of the center. “We continue to innovate as our residents ask us to go beyond crafts and bingo. Thus, we have launched new leisure activities adapted to their demands, such as the adult school, football reminiscence workshops, the library and the next step will be the cinema».
And to satisfy the needs and requirements of the residents, a constant adaptation of protocols and services based on innovation. In Ballesol, a good example of this is the recent awarding of the Senda Award ‘to the program’Between friends‘ in which famous people are invited to a residence and the residents study the character for a month to prepare for the interview; the publication by the Spanish Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology of a study on the Orthogeriatric Protocol implemented in Ballesol, or the three years implementation of the Prescription Quality Module with STOPP/START criteria to reduce polypharmacy in residents, especially to regulate medication when they return from a hospital stay»highlights Yosune Rodríguez.
The opening of Ballesol Bilbao is part of the expansion process of this companywhich plans to open soon in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Seville, Lugo, Logroño, Pamplona, Castellón, a Chronic Hospital in Burgos, as well as expanding its presence in the Basque Country, with new centers in Vitoria and San Sebastián, and in Latin America , where it already has a residence in Mexico and will soon begin its expansion in Colombia.
Rights and freedoms of people with disabilities
Ballesol Bilbao precisely hosted the I Conference on Legal Protection and Guardianship of Adultsgiven by Patricia Arrizabalaga Iturmendi, Magistrate of First Instance Court number 14 Bilbao, which was attended by more than 30 professionals from the socio-sanitary, hospital and residential fields of Vizcaya.
In her presentation, the Magistrate conveyed to the attendees the importance of recognizing the inherent dignity and value of rights and freedoms that assist and guarantee people with disabilities, highlighting “the importance of how it should be interpreted, both in the procedures and in our current legal guardian institutions, in relation to these principles”highlighting the need to know the most suitable means of support for the elderly “taking into account their real limitations and the context in which their life develops”.
As a magistrate, and based on the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, she reminded the directors of hospitals, residences, doctors, and social workers gathered on this day, that “Our legal system allows us to have resources and possibilities to attend to the different disabilities and the specific support of each case. It is about, as the Supreme Court says, making a suit tailored to the person with disabilities”.