3 April 2024 – The IMRO project held its final dissemination conference on Supporting the Informal Carers in Palliative and Hospice Care at the Faculty of Health Sciences in Celje.
The IMRO project addresses the challenges posed by an ageing population. The demands of working life often cause distress for employees who are at the same time also informal carers of a seriously ill family member.
The dissemination conference addressed the issue of relieving the burden of working men and women who care for a chronically ill, dying, or elderly family member. The conference’s aim was to open a dialogue on the issue of informal caregiving in Slovenia and to raise awareness of integrated care in the home environment as a human right.
Opening speeches were given by the President of the Slovenian Hospice Society, Renata Jakob Roban, the Ombudsman of the Republic of Slovenia and the honorary patron of the conference, Peter Svetina, and the Vice-Mayor of the Municipality of Celje, Saša Kundih.
The conference, divided into three sessions, focused in the first session on the establishment of an effective system of informal care in the community. The second part dealt with the situation of informal carers and their need for skills and knowledge. The third part of the conference focused on the pressures and hardships of informal carers in palliative care and the concern for their relief.
Dr Manca Košir, a volunteer and ambassador of the Slovenian Hospice Society, who was unable to attend the conference in person, addressed all participants by letter. Part of her address said, “Volunteering is a shortcut. A shortcut for personal growth, for mental maturity, for spiritual awakening. For awareness.”
The IMRO project, which is supported by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism under the programme Education, Scholarships, Apprenticeship and Youth Entrepreneurship, is co-created by the Slovenian Hospice Society as the project promoter and the project partners the Society for Cultural Relations SPES, the Municipality of Solčava and Bjerkaker LearningLab from Norway.
SOURCE: Project IMRO