The Last Station

The aging of Brazil’s population poses new challenges to a society that is not always prepared to ensure care, protection, and dignity in old age. Although Brazil has laws and public policies aimed at protecting older people, the gap between the rights guaranteed and their implementation leaves thousands of people vulnerable to abandonment, violence, and neglect.

In this context, Long-Term Care Institutions for Older People represent an alternative for those facing physical, emotional, and social challenges and who can no longer live alone or rely on family support. In the city of Várzea Grande, in Brazil’s Central-West region, the São Vicente de Paula Institution provides care for around 80 older people, many of whom have stories marked by abandonment, violence, and the breakdown of family ties.

The daily life of the institution represents a microcosm of a reality experienced by thousands of older people in Brazil, bringing together stories marked by loss and the rupture of family ties, but also by new relationships of companionship, care, and affection built within the institution.

By revealing the stories of those who grow old away from their family ties, The Last Station starts from the reality of a specific institution to reflect on an issue that extends beyond its walls and across Brazil: the ability of society and the State to ensure care, protection, and dignity to those who reach old age in situations of vulnerability.