Hilfswerk House of Support – Elderly Homecare Sustainable Service Provision in Bosnia & Herzegovina

The project „Hilfswerk House of Support – Elderly Homecare Sustainable Service Provision in Bosnia & Herzegovina“, financed by Hilfswerk International GmbH, Austrian Development Agency, and the Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung, aims to establish and maintain a sustainable model of comprehensive, integrated, and professional homecare and support for older persons in need of care, members of their family, and members of their household. By establishing the Social protection institution “Hilfswerk House of Support”, we open the possibility of transferring the high-quality Austrian model of mobile homecare, with which conditions are created to hire and pre-qualify people from the job market in B&H through periodical education and training the first team of caregivers, as well as new ones in the future. With the successful implementation of project activities, it is planned that the developed model of mobile homecare will be replicated from the initial location in the Municipality of Centar, Sarajevo, to other municipalities in Canton Sarajevo, as well as the wider region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, through the contribution to the improvement of the sistem of homecare.

The project is being implemented by Hilfswerk International, with its representation office in Sarajevo, in cooperation with the project partner Association for Help and Development „HAJDE“, and with active cooperation with the Municipality Centar, Sarajevo.

ACTIVITIES SO FAR

Project activities from December 2020 to May 2021 encompass the preparation, organisation, and implementation of the first education of caregivers, which has the primary goal of training caregivers, who will receive the conditions, skills, and knowledge necessary to provide all adequate types of help, with the aim of ensuring better longevity and a higher quality of life for older persons in their own home.

The education program consists of a total of 434 hours of theoretical and practical education, created and implemented based on the Austrian programme of caregiver education, with monitoring and transfer of know-how and standards in this area by Austrian experts. In this way, the applied model and its framework already clearly define, structure, and determine best practices, domains, as well as themes within which the classes and their content are adapted to achieve the best results and train knowledgeable caregivers.

The initial processes of recruitement and selection with more than 100 applicants have resulted in 15 chosen participants in the education, out of which 11 caregivers have successfully completed the theoretical education and are currently participating in practical education. Since the beginning of March 2021, in cooperation with the Municipality Centar Sarajevo, the practical education is being conducted in the homes of the first beneficiaries of House of Support services, under the active leadership and daily supervision by an experienced caregiver, while making sure all epidemiological measures are being followed and all lecturers and education participants are wearing personal protective equipment.

PRACTICAL CAREGIVER EDUCATION ALREADY FINDING POSITIVE REACTIONS

Part of the practical education that has been conducted so far has resulted in highly positive reactions of the first beneficiaries involved in the implementation of this part of the education, with them valuing and being satisfied with the services provided through the practical education, as well as showing interest to become future clients once the education is finished. These results at the very beginning encourage the practical implications of the project objectives, in which the satisfaction of users, ethical relationships, and empathic conduct are the main imperative.

„The high enthusiasm and dedication of your caregivers, who understand the needs of people in need of care and leave a very humane and professional impression."

„A very big THANK YOU to the Ambassador of the friendly country of Austria, the friendly people of Austria, the Mayor of the Municipality Centar Sarajevo, and you, the employees of Hilfswerk House of Support and all your caregivers.“ - Džanko Nail

FUTURE ACTIVITIES

The implemented project activities represent a basis for the further engagement and work on improving future services, closely related to the education of additional trained caregivers and the expansion of the services of mobile care and its spectrum of action, as well as the aforementioned adaptation of the developed and tested model from the Municipality Centar to other municipalities and the wider region of Bosnia and Herzegovina.