The Foundation was established in 2009 on the initiative of Dr. Paweł Grabowski, who left Warsaw for the East of Poland to carry out his mission of helping the lonely at the end of their lives. Initially the foundation was called the Podlasie Oncological Hospice Foundation. The foundation’s seat at that time was the village of Nowa Wola near Michałów. From the very beginning, the hospice was active socially.
For several years, we have been operating under the name of the Prophet Elijah’s Hospice Foundation based in Michalow. We have expanded our activity to include educational activities and we have undertaken the construction of the first rural stationary hospice in Podlasie.
We help to take care of the elderly, terminally and chronically ill inhabitants of villages from five communes in Podlasie: Michałowo, Gródek, Zabłudów, Narew and Narewka, so that they could live the last months of their lives with dignity. We also help the families of our wards and other people working with the sick at the end of their lives. Members of our medical team (doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, psychologist, nutritionist and elderly careers) support families in taking care of the sick in their homes.
Motto of the Prophet Elijah Hospice Foundation: “Out of respect for life”.
We reach out to people forgotten by the world and sometimes family and institution. We provide free help to the chronically and terminally ill elderly, ensuring professional palliative care for the rest of their days. We also support the families of our wards in the fight against the disease: we train them, give them guidance, and provide psychological support.
Out of respect for life, we believe that everyone has the right to die with dignity, decent conditions and, above all, the presence of another person at the last stage of their life path.
So that no elderly person would have to leave alone, we took the initiative to build the first rural stationary hospice in Podlasie.
We started building the center in 2018 and will have 35 beds in the hospice. The hospice will serve as a care and educational center. In addition to day care for the elderly, the center will also perform the following functions: educational, medical and welfare care,
You can read more about the stationary hospice HERE *
Elijah – Fiery Patron!
Finding a better guardian than the Prophet Elijah for our hospice would be extremely difficult – or even impossible. This character fits perfectly into the activities of the foundation in every respect. We entrusted our mission to the Prophet Elijah, because:
He Connected And United
He is a saint recognized by practically all Christian churches and by the followers of Judaism. And our mission is to provide support to all who need it, regardless of their faith or social status. Podlasie is a multi-culti region: Catholics, Christians, Muslims, followers of Judaism – all need the same care and dignity in the last moments of life.
He Was A Folk Prophet
The prophet Elijah is called the “People’s Prophet”. So, he is closest to us and our charges, because we operate in rural areas.
For several years, we have been observing depopulation of our Podlasie region. According to the Central Statistical Office (GUS), almost 60% of the population of the Podlasie region are seniors, 3500 of whom already need the support of qualified caretakers. The lack of transport, stores, pharmacies and only 7 health centers in 5 communes’ results in the fact that people staying in the villages are often cut off from the world, with difficult access to a doctor.
We know that people requiring care and support can also be found in large cities. However, we feel that it is here that we are particularly needed – because we are the first ones to loudly ask for such necessary, concrete help for the inhabitants of Podlasie villages. We want to help Podlasie seniors so that they can live their last days in peace, in dignified conditions, and above all without painful loneliness.
Victory Over Death
The prophet Elijah “as a reward for his great zeal for the law was taken to heaven”. (1 Mch 2,58), and a fiery chariot took him there. He is one of the two prophets of the Old Testament, who did not die, but as a man was taken to heaven. In our activity – by taking care of terminally ill adults – we strive to show support to our charges, even if they have only a few months, days, weeks ahead of them. It is a different time perspective, but the same life.
He Protects Us With His Cloak
The word “palum” means “coat” in Latin. This is where the term “palliative” comes from. The prophet Elijah left his disciple a mantle with miraculous qualities. For us, it is a symbol of the palliative care that we surround our patients.
He Appealed To People’s Hearts
It is written about the Prophet Elijah that “his word burned like a torch” (Sir 48,1). Also for the Hospice of the Prophet Elijah the word has a great meaning. We want to change the awareness of the care of seniors. By educating and training the caregivers of the elderly we want to emphasize the importance of respect for the elderly in sickness. To say how important it is to respect, presence of another person, support, sense of dignity in the last stage of life.
