Caritas Ukraine has worked in home care for over 15 years. The need for this kind of social service is very high in Ukraine and is growing steadily. Most elderly people prefer to live at home, not in retirement homes or other institutions, so that they can feel relatively independent. Caritas Ukraine currently assists the infirmed and solitary people in cities: Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kolomyya, Boryslav, Ternopil, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Khmelnytsky, Chortkiv and Kramatorsk. The purpose of this project is to improve the quality of life for solitary individuals who are elderly, living with a disability, suffering from an incurable disease, a progressive disease or a serious injury that requires temporary or constant outside assistance, including HIV.
The Home Care team of professional staff provides a wide range of services to those in need: physical care for the infirmed and sickly: dressing, changing bedding, providing hygienic services; medical services: measuring blood pressure, pulse and temperature, administering medications, dressing injuries, providing massages and body rubs, administering physical therapy; household services: buying foodstuffs, cooking meals, feeding, dishwashing, house cleaning, laundering and pressing; legal aid: registering for subsidies and documents, paying for utilities; recreational services: conversing, reading books, taking people for walks; consulting services for wards and their families.
All of Caritas’ Home Care centers are fully equipped with the requisite medical and rehabilitation equipment and have teams of qualified professionals and dedicated local managers. The project includes training for medical and social workers, and continuous professional development in collaboration with educational institutions. As part of this project, rehabilitation equipment is rented out to provide those who need them with antecubital mattresses and pillows to prevent bedsores, pneumatic bowls to wash hair, neck pillows, toilet chairs, wheelchairs, two-wheeled folding walkers, four-wheeled canes, and more. Among others, the Home Care clients regularly use the services of community laundries where dirty linens are washed, pressed and delivered to their homes ready for use again. More than 600 individuals and their families or care givers are currently in the care of Caritas Ukraine: the elderly, individuals in palliative care, victims of totalitarianism, HIV/AIDS patients, the incurably ill and others who, because of a progressive disease or serious trauma need temporary or ongoing outside help.