After visiting several homes on the day they serve meals for senior citizens, the Auditor General of the City of Buenos Aires (AGCBA, for its acronym in Spanish) noted that meals are served without regards to the weight specified in the food service, they are missing phones and computers, and there are construction problems, that could possible cause the collapse of the frontages.

The AGCBA analyzed the Home Day Care Program, corresponding to the Secretariat of the Third Age, which operates under the aegis of the Ministry of Social Development. Its main conclusions are contained in a report adopted in December of last year, among which highlights the need to include centers in Buenos Aires municipalities lacking this provision; call for bids to hire a food service for grandparents; and implement measures designed to achieve necessary building improvements.

The Visits 

When the audit began its research program aimed at people over 60 years without mobility problems, the city had 28 Day Homes; of that total, eleven were owned by the State of Buenos Aires and 17 operated under agreements with public welfare agencies that receive subsidies based on the amount of people they served. In these centers activities that support and supplement deficiency situations, like food benefits and maintaining activity levels as well as the bio-psycho-social health of the elderly.

For their work, the Watchdog examined 24 establishments (7  state and 17  "contracted"), and of that sample, visited five homes. One was the Day Center 2, Sports and Social Club "El Ciclon de Caballito" (Rojas 881). Regarding the situation in the home building industry, the AGCBA observed in the ceiling of the room "a sewage pipe with moisture indicating leaks", adding that the switchboard "is shared with other facilities" and who don’t even have a computer. In-Home Day 4, Center for Pensioners "La Amistad" (Yerbal 5025, Versailles), auditors stressed the absence of computers, and that "missing glass and is covered with a plastic window next room."

The visit to the Day Center 24, in Barrio Los Perales (Passage Yrupé 6700, Mataderos), emerged, on the one hand, that there was "humidity" in the living room, and on the other, that office coordinators and the kitchen shared the "same space" which is also "small" generating "risks in their use." They are also missing a "suitable place" for the hallways in the common sites.

In the Day Home 25, Pensioners Center "La Nueva Esperanza Villa Soldati" (Culpina 3476), they are missing computers and there is a window overlooking a path in which they "leave the low rolling metal curtain down and cover it from the inside with a cloth curtain," the report adds that in that space "they hide cleaning materials". Also, "there are also stains, poor facilities and cracks that generate peeling facades."

A similar scenario was noted at the Day Home 26, Pensioners Center "The Fort of Villa Ortuzar" (Estomba 294), with "moisture, landslides, very precarious and dangerous facilities, and accumulation of obsolete items that generate risks", with "slopes of varying heights unmarked on the covered patio and gallery, which are used as main circulation" of the establishment, and the lack of both computers and a landline.

Finally, technicians claimed that four of the five visited centers "need improvements and adjustments to comply with the provisions of the Building Code of the City." And, as general observations, the report lists that "in every center there are heating stoves or infrared screens, without outer venting to ensure the evacuation of the combustion gases. This combined with poor natural ventilation and the time spent in such environments can lead to poor air quality, resulting in concurrent disorders." And, in parallel, the investigation revealed that "none of the centers have evacuation plans nor have they conducted drills or any training for that matter."

Beyond these inventory shortages, the AGCBA concludes that "in the Day centers surveyed they noted the absence of some necessary resources to develop better management." In that sense, the report reproduces statements by the "authorities" who said that some institutions "work in buildings that do not have landlines, so the staff uses their particular phones to communicate with each other or with the coordinator. In turn, in other Homes missing computers, or that there are obsolete, so the systematization and digital record information is difficult "and monthly attendance sheets or arrangements are settled manually.

The Mystery of the Building Conditions

Beyond the specific comments on the state of the Center, the audit report said that "it has not been stipulated or regulated what should be the minimum necessary building conditions to be met by organizations who join the activity" referring to the public welfare agencies that sign agreements with the City.

Thin Plates

The Day Care Home Program includes a food service consisting of breakfast, lunch and dinner. This provision, the Buenos Aires Audit concluded: "In all the centers of the sample deficiencies and inadequate storage and preservation of perishable food were confirmed."

In fact, half of the institutions visited "do not have a physical space for saving non-perishable food." In addition, "defaults on menus, weights and nutrient inputs" which are less than those established in the current regulations were discovered.

As examples, the Watchdog prepared a chart comparing grams that should be in some dishes available, and what they are actually serving the elderly.

At Home 2 in Caballito, the serving of polenta should have 420 grams, but the dish served has 299; instead of serving 120 grams of meat, they served less than half (56.66 grams), and the same for the bread and flan.

On the side of the Home 4 (Versailles) they serve 109 grams of chicken when, according to the arrangement, a serving should be 176.83 grams. And as a possible side dish provided 180 grams of potato and sweet potato dishes have 127 grams. However, no dessert falls short: because although current regulations indicate that the block portion should be 150 grams, the elderly receive 183 grams.

One of the most notorious cases of deficiency is in Home 25 in Villa Soldati. There, the portion of lean stew meat should weigh 120 grams, but the dish served is 48 grams.

With this data, the auditors stated that the provisions below the available values are served in five of the sample homes."Therefore, a lower amount of calories, proteins and carbohydrates in relation (to the rules) is evident. In two of the centers, the lower than established in the provision for desserts values are observed. And nutrient inputs are lower than those needed for the elderly population."

In regard to the staff serving at the Day Centers, the report found that only "15.38% have sanitary daily notebooks, and 76.93% do not have certification of food handling course." As if nothing else was missing, technicians added that "there has been an insufficient nutrition professional to perform the control of the food supply."

Coverage, Distribution and Internal Control

The Audit’s investigation is completed with other data. About 659.852 people over 60 years old are currently residing in the City. Of the 15 municipalities of Buenos Aires "four do not have homes despite having high percentages of elderly in the total population." It is the communes 2, 3, 11 and 13. In this regard, the report tells us that "the program has a coverage of 0.21% of the population over 60 years," which amounts to "less than 1% of the potential population, i.e., 2 thousand people."

It also mentions that "there has been no increase in space available in recent years and that the unsystematic outreach efforts made by each household, can inferred that the program reaches the population that already knew of its existence, or was linked to people who were part of the homes.” Finally, the Watchdog listed some characteristics of public welfare institutions that are linked to the Day Home Care Program by signing agreements with the city government.

On this point, the report details: "There is no legislation that exhaustively specifies the documentation to be submitted by organizations who sign the agreement, so the documentation in each record is not uniform."

In addition, "It was verified that in 12.5% of cases, there was no documentation that the signatory vouch responsible or representative of the organization for which it supported the agreement, and in 43.8% of cases it could not verify the identity of the signatories."