The bar as medicine
Can you imagine a doctor prescribing "going to the bar" instead of pills? That's what they did in the Catalan town of Sant Joan de Vilatorrada with fifty residents between the ages of 40 and 90 who showed signs of depression or other conditions associated with loneliness.
The idea comes from the Alicia Foundation, which has named it the SALSA project – Health, Food, and Sociability – and it was presented a few days ago on the Dreams stage at Madrid Fusión. “Many older people go to the clinic to talk to someone; if we replace that doctor's visit with going out to eat, new avenues for socialization open up, and we help to build new networks to alleviate loneliness,” explained nurse and researcher Anna Ramírez at a round table discussion that also included anthropologist and president of the Sustainable Restaurants Foundation, Sergio Gil, and the secretary general of Hospitality Spain, Emilio Gallego.
The discussion also touched on the role a bar with its lights on plays in the well-being of communities, especially in rural areas or on the outskirts of cities. It serves as a meeting point, a center for public services, or even a political agora, as Sergio Gil explained when recounting the experience of a village in northern Castellón where, after the closure of the last bar, the residents had become embroiled in a conflict that stifled coexistence. “If this agora, which in practical terms is the bar, doesn't exist, does a community exist?” the anthropologist asked.
So much so that, in very specific cases where their survival brings clear benefits to the community, some administrations are equating rural businesses with NGOs for tax purposes. It seems like a crazy idea, but on second thought, it would be cheaper than stuffing patients with pills.
