About us
We are a team of volunteers in palliative care who visit end-of-life patients and their families to help in their daily activities, including psychosocial and spiritual support, as well as help with practical chores (shopping, visits to doctors). We assist families with advice on how to care for their end-of-life family member, and help them by lending various types of aids and equipment.
We also assist in communication with institutions (care homes, social care centres, registry offices) in order to enable the patient to exercise their rights and use the existing services (meal delivery, nursing care at home and other rights and benefits). We organize meetings and support groups for families who have a member in our care or who have recently been bereaved. In addition, we conduct campaigns aimed at educating the general public about the importance of end-of-life care, which is still rather underdeveloped in this country.
La Verna has one full-time employee – a social worker acting as volunteer coordinator – and 32 active volunteers. Our services are completely free of charge for end-of-life patients and their families, which makes them accessible to everyone, regardless of their social and economic status. We firmly believe our motto “Dignity until the end of life” should apply to everyone.
Our team has supervision meetings twice a month, which are moderated by the social worker who is the team coordinator. Supervision involves the assessment of our activities, support to volunteers, as well as training and planning. Every effort is made to provide volunteers with as much professional and personal support as possible to enable them to carry on the demanding work they do, and to facilitate their personal improvement.
For this reason, we provide our volunteers with regular opportunities for training and further education. This serves to enhance their knowledge of end-of-life care, and to help them gain self-confidence in communicating with patients and their families. Training is organized in cooperation with the Croatian Catholic University. We also organize spiritual retreats for the volunteers on a regular basis.
Would like to help us carry on with our activities?
IBAN: HR9324020061500083178
SWIFT/BIC: ESBCHR22
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