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HOME HELP
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A Fight against institutionalisation
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 The desire of the elderly is to remain home in the environment with which they are familiar. In the last 30 years we have worked for an entirely different alternative to hospitalisation. The elderly who remain at home live, heal and react better against sickness and physical weakness. On the other hand, those who are forced to be placed in an institution show an increased deterioration both physically and psychologically, and even death can result. Institutionalisation is a condemnation to isolation that often takes away from the elderly a willingness to live. In institutions the death rate for comparable age groups is four times higher than for those who remain at home. Elderly in institutions have great difficulty in coping with detachment from their family environment, not only from the people they love but also from the home itself and the objects and memories that represent their life. Often, they no longer find a motive to live.
Our service to the elderly, wherever in the world we provide it, aims at guaranteeing and protecting the right of the elderly to stay in its own living quarters and to maintain their own sense of identity. Unfortunately, one often observes that the elderly are completely deprived of the possibility to express opinions or make decisions regarding their lives. The Community has therefore established a series of activities to protect the elderly’s dignity and self-determination. This becomes a necessary and indispensable asset in order to accompany the elderly through difficult and painful moments like sickness and death, so they can live in a more human and dignified way.
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Respect for Self-determination
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 Sometimes elderly persons become suddenly non self-sufficient and it is difficult to re-organise one’s life as they are faced with new necessities requiring assistance for both the one who is sick and their caretakers. Also the family that wants to help an invalid family member finds itself unprepared, and does not know where to turn or what financial resources and services are available. Faced with objective difficulties and lacking necessary support to undertake the re-organisation of one's family life, hospitalisation or institutionalisation frequently appear as the only reasonable solution, even if in the majority of cases this does not respect the elderly person's desire to remain at home.
The Community offers consultation, guidelines and sometimes concrete help to allow the elderly to continue to live where and how they desire.
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Assistance at home
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The most conspicuous effort is made towards offering assistance in the home to improve the elderly person’s quality of life as a whole and to combat hospitalisation.
During home visits which can be as frequent as needs require, the elderly person is helped to solve problems of daily life, assisted with caring for his physical needs, and helped in maintaining significant social and sentimental relations.
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Vacations
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Every year the Community organises vacation periods for those who are not self-sufficient or who can not afford to go on holidays.
The elderly enjoy this vacation period with members of the Community with whom they have had stable relations throughout the year. These are occasions of great familiarity.
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Genoa
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ELDERLY, Senior
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CHANGE LANGUAGE
Solidarity Actions of the Community of Sant'Egidio are made thanks to volunteer work and are financed by collections, contributes, donations, both public and private. 
