Volunteers step in to help high-risk people in Spain forced to self-isolate

Local community finding ways to support elderly people and those with pre-existing conditions needing to stay at home, Graham Keeley reports

Volunteers from a parish give away bag with food to people in need in Zaragoza, Spain (EPA)

Jon King has had to self-isolate for fear of contracting coronavirus, but he still counts himself as lucky.

Just before Spain went into lockdown last weekend, he was able to get an appointment with a consultant who treats the Crohn’s disease that has dominated his life for the past 25 years.

“The doctor said just isolate yourself from everyone – immediately. I take drugs to treat the Crohn’s disease which weaken my immune system so even a common cold can cause a problem, let alone coronavirus,” he told The Independent.

“It was just good luck that I had an appointment with the consultant before all this broke. He was able to give me my injection and send me home.”

King has injections every eight weeks to treat Crohn’s disease and is classed as immunocompromised.

The 51-year-old, who is originally from Wincanton, Somerset, has lived in Barcelona for 13 years where he works as a tennis coach.

Like anyone else who has a job that involves contact with others, he is now temporarily redundant, and being forced to self-isolate has made once basic tasks near impossible.

Volunteer groups across Spain have sprung up in response to help people like Jon, with many taking shopping or medicine to their homes to save them taking the risk of going outside.

Pensioners clubs, which offer many members their only square meal of the day, have closed across Spain.

Luis Salaya, a council official in Caceres, a city in western Spain, said municipal workers take turns to take shopping, medicines or other essentials to this high-risk group.

“There are hundreds of elderly people in this situation and for their own good cannot leave the home. We want to help them,” he said.

Food banks offering help to the poorest in society are still open. Normally staffed by elderly volunteers, they are now being manned by students who are thought to be at a lower risk from the virus.

Carmen Navas, 24, a student from Cordoba in southern Spain, said: “We are helping out so that the normal volunteers who are pensioners do not have to leave home as they are high risk.”

Only China, Italy and Iran have more cases of coronavirus than Spain where the number who tested positive reached 17,147 on Thursday and the death toll stood at more than 760.

Spain’s left-wing government this week announced a €600m (£554m) in financial aid for the elderly and most vulnerable in society.

In Madrid, 39 elderly residents of three care homes died this week after the pathogen spread like wildfire through the frail population.

The tragedy highlighted the danger that the outbreak poses for elderly people.

Amparo Elcacho, 88, is especially at risk. She is suffering from chest cancer and lives at home with her daughter Gema Lopez, her partner and their young daughter in a cramped flat in Barcelona.

I take drugs to treat the Crohn’s disease which weaken my immune system so even a common cold can cause a problem, let alone coronavirus

Jon King

“My mother cannot leave the house but can at least play with my two-year-old,” said Lopez.

“We will see what happens when my mother has to go to the hospital. At least she has us to help her at home. Many old people live alone.”

Spain is home to an estimated 300,000 British residents, the largest proportion of UK citizens in any European country.

Some are pensioners who moved to Spain to enjoy their retirement under the Mediterranean sun.

Help groups organised within the expatriate community have sprung up for those who are especially vulnerable.

Mike and Maire Hoskyn (Graham Keeley/The Independent) (Graham Keeley/ The Independent)

Mike Hoskyn, and his wife Maire are originally from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, but 13 years ago moved to Limaria, a small town in Almeria, southern Spain.

When Mike, 78, suffered a heart attack 10 years ago, he was put on a diet of eight different pills every day. The retired businessman is classified by his doctors as high risk.

The couple are confined to their home, and say they are lucky to have a garden, a pool and enough space so they do not get under each other’s feet.

“Mike has had to keep himself at home since this has broken. He cannot leave the house and we have had to stop seeing friends,” said Maire.

“We had planned to go on a cruise from Miami to the Mediterranean but we have had to cancel that. It is a shame as we love our cruises, but after all the most important thing is to keep well.”

Jon King is now counting the days since his last contact with the outside world to see if develops any symptoms of Covid-19, and admits that at times the isolation has been depressing.

“I thought the other day of my sons and grandchildren in the UK and I felt a bit down. But then here in Spain I am in the hands of first-class doctors so I am lucky in a way,” he reflected.