Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1482386
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 OCTOBER 2022 6 ELDERLY CARE NOW that the Covid-19 pan- demic is fortunately nearing a close, St Vincent de Paul is mov- ing on and has mostly returned to a fairly, normal life. The main goal of the admin- istration and staff is for all the residents to enjoy every phase in their life in the best possible manner. Therefore, even if quite a sub- stantial number of the residents are highly dependant on medical services, they always strive to of- fer top quality care. Staff are all aware that the pan- demic has drastically changed the lifestyle of the residents, and increased their need for social care, as in the attempt to protect them, the facility had closed its doors to family and friends. During the past months, the authorities have invested heav- ily and worked hard to bring St Vincent de Paul back to life with plenty of educational, recrea- tional and socio-cultural activi- ties, planned meticulously by the staff. Activities After an absence of two years, the summer activities started off with the Qalb ta' Ġesu' feast, where open spaces and the main square at St Vincent de Paul were all nicely decorated to re- semble a traditional Maltese vil- lage. The top activities most com- monly cited by the residents as being their favourties, are the summer activities such as barbe- ques and beach outings, visits to village feasts, traditional Maltese evenings, social gatherings and theatrical productions. The feast of St Vincent de Paul closed off the summer ac- tivities, where a lot of socio-re- ligious events were organised during the week, including a procession with the statue and a traditional Maltese evening in the square, attended by hun- dreds of residents and their families. Staff returned to organising active games and mind sports, performance arts, crafts, animal therapy, shows from local Mal- tese artists and other excursions. There is a different activity every day in each ward and also a special activities programme for residents with dementia. Expenditure It is estimated that more than half a million euros are spent on activities each year. Over a span of 12 months, a to- tal of 2,300 activites were held in St Vincent de Paul. These included 600 outings, which all included transport ser- vices, 1,000 activities in wards and another 200 activities in the open spaces of the facility. In addition at the Silver Hub, interactive activites are held every day, with a total of 500 ac- tivities which have been organ- ised this year. Not just a hospital St Vincent De Paul is not just a hospital but the home where the residents spend the rest of their lives. Administration and staff are therefore constantly commit- ted to protect the quality of life of these residents and in recent years, an unprecedented amount of investment has been made. In addition to strengthening the infrastructure, money at- tention was spent on improving the existing services, engaging more professionals from differ- ent healthcare sectors, creating new concepts and increasing the number of activities. Summer 2022 at St Vincent de Paul