A caridade e filantropia em favor da velhice: a trajetória do Centro Geriátrico Padre Venâncio pós estatuto da pessoa idosa.

Abstract

The present research deals with charity and philanthropy as actions aimed at helping the helpless old age, focusing on the trajectory of an institution for the elderly in the city of Recife: the Centro Geriátrico Padre Venâncio. Old age is here understood in its historicity not only as a biological reality, but mainly as a social creation. The research is developed from the analysis of the journey of the referred asylum institution, which is currently managed by Santa Casa de Misericórdia do Recife. The Irmandades da Misericórdia were for a long time solely responsible in Brazil for charitable actions to help the poor and needy, working, until today, in several Brazilian states, in favor of this public. After the promulgation of the Federal Constitution of 1988, several fundamental rights were defined and guaranteed to Brazilians, and certain segments of the population deserved special protection, such as the elderly. In the wake of the Magna Carta, important protective normative diplomas emerged in favor of the elderly, with emphasis on the Statute of the Elderly, Law nº 10.741/2003. The Statute in question guaranteed a series of rights and guarantees in favor of old Brazilians. The objective is to understand the trajectory of the Centro Geriátrico Padre Venâncio after the advent of the Statute for the Elderly, having as an initial time frame the year 2011, the year in which Santa Casa took over the management of the institution. The research will use the oral source as it will seek, through interviews, to capture the vision and perception of the institution's management team. Other sources are also used to achieve the research objectives, such as laws and newspapers. Not to mention secondary sources. The theoretical basis was based on Certeau, in the conception that history is a construction, an operation that revolves around a social place, scientific practices as well as a writing, in addition to the perception of old age as a construct and a social problem, in the line of thought of Debert, Norbert Elias and Beauvoir. During the development of the research, we opted for the construction of a catalog of photographs and images about the trajectory of the former Asilo da Velhice to the current Padre Venâncio Geriatric Center, whose material will serve as a subsidy for all those who are dedicated to the study of old age, especially in institutions for seniors. Asylums for the elderly are as old as hospitals and as a social and memory place they are privileged places for the study of aging.