The purpose of this work is to describe the structure and characterize the services offered for rehabilitation of elder people, victims of accidents and violence, based on the main public policies of health for this population in Brazil. Following the principles of the triangulation method, a 27 question questionnaire was applied to 19 rehabilitation services (five in Manaus, seven in Recife, two in Brasília, two in Rio de Janeiro and three in Curitiba) about structure and organization of the service besides data registration. Managers and health professionals were interviewed about the flow, characterization and specificities of the service to elder people, protection chains, services evaluation and suggestions. Services in Manaus and Brasília are better prepared to attend elder victims of accidents and violence. The services in Brasília surpass the specific issues of elderly care. The rehabilitation units in Recife are more unprepared, especially regarding laboratorial support, qualification of professionals to identify and attend the cases of violence, registration and analysis of data. It is concluded that the rehabilitation service presents great fragility on the implantation of public policies and in insertion of the violence theme.
Health of the elderly; Public policy; Violence against the elderly
