Tailored assistance for rural seniors
Comprehensive assistance tailored to individual needs or visits by a medical caregiver and nutritionist. This is part of the scope of the EU project “To give what is really needed”, implemented by the Prophet Elijah Hospice Foundation in Michałowo. The innovative care, which allows people to spend their last days with dignity, has covered more than 90 wards from five municipalities (Narew, Narewka, Zabludow, Michałowo and Gródek municipalities). The project will run until the end of March 2024.
The Foundation, as part of its operation of a community home hospice, has for 13 years been helping seniors requiring long-term care due to chronic, incurable diseases or patients at the end of their lives residing at home. The EU project, which has been running for two years, has allowed the hospice to expand the range of support it provides. Its partners are the Institute for Rural and Agricultural Development of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the NGO Support Center in Bialystok and, representing the Podlaskie Voivodeship Government, the Regional Social Policy Center.
A boost for change
The boost to extending assistance to their charges came from the previous experience of the foundation’s employees. Among the main problems they encountered was the inability of the National Health Fund (NHF) to finance part of the assistance provided. Difficulties include, for example, the short list of diseases qualifying for hospice care, lack of funding for medical caregivers or dieticians.
The needs of those receiving hospice care are also not fully met by social welfare centers. They do not, for example, provide mobile caregivers or transportation for those who need transportation.
– „With the health care system separated from social care, shortages of health care professionals are generating problems in health care units across the country. But this is felt more strongly in rapidly aging rural areas. If one adds to this the poorer accessibility to pharmacies, the transportation exclusion of many beneficiaries, or the practically non-functional nursing home long-term care in the rural areas we serve, the scale of the challenges facing our rural hospice becomes apparent,” says Dr. Pawel Grabowski of the Prophet Elijah Hospice Foundation in Podlasie.
The EU project is a response to gaps in the system and an attempt to combine medical and social services. The project’s assistance is focused on the actual needs of the residents, without operating within a rigid framework set by institutions.
The care provided by the hospice has been supplemented by a team of skilled and motorized caregivers who visit the wards, help with nursing, shopping and simple medical activities. Home caregivers are also assisted, and can expect to receive care such as respite care.
At the moment, the proposed care system is being tested by medical personnel, experts and supported by scientific research. In the future, it could be replicated in other parts of the province’s rural areas, as well as throughout Poland and Europe.
The EU project is a response to gaps in the system and an attempt to combine medical and social services. The project’s assistance is focused on the actual needs of the residents, without operating within a rigid framework set by institutions.
The care provided by the hospice has been supplemented by a team of skilled and motorized caregivers who visit the wards, help with nursing, shopping and simple medical activities. Caregivers of seniors are also assisted, and can expect to receive care such as respite care.
At the moment, the proposed care system is being tested by medical personnel, experts and supported by scientific research. In the future, it could be replicated in other parts of the province’s rural areas, as well as throughout Poland and Europe.
Wise senior policy
The project implemented by the foundation is in line with the directions and objectives of the development of the Podlaskie Voivodeship in the areas of health care or social assistance, because, as statistics show, the population of our region is aging.
– “We treat this process as an impulse for the development of innovative solutions and the adaptation of existing ones, aimed at facilitating the daily functioning of the elderly.Wiseraprapoliticsofseniorsareextremelyneededinourregion,” said ArturKosicki, Voivodship Marshal.
As he emphasized, the experience gained from the project will allow the preparation of solutions to complement the care offered by the health service.
Edyta Chodakowska-Kieżel
editor: Aneta Kursa
photo: Prophet Elijah Hospice Foundation in Michałowo