"Hospice" Patients' Friends' Association
Activities of the Association:
The "Hospice" Patients' Friends' Association [Stowarzyszenie Przyjaciół Chorych “Hospicjum”] was established in 1990. Its initial objective was to renovate the building slated for the future hospice and organize a healthcare centre on the premises. Today, its activities centre around:
- protecting and promoting health
- delivering medical support to serious and chronic patients
- supporting terminal patients and their families
- supporting those bereaved as a result of terminal illness
- promoting and organizing volunteering opportunities
Expansion of the Hospice
Every day, we are working to expand the hospice to allow our patients to feel more comfortable. Each sickroom should feel like a real room, hosting no more than 1 or 2 patients. We want everyone in the ward to enjoy the highest standard of care and living conditions. We are also planning to build a special lecture room where future palliative care doctors can be educated.
Hospice Statistics
In 2017, the hospice in Gliwice lent assistance to 1800 patients in their homes and to a further 435 in the palliative ward, where 1100 consultations were held that year. Our reach covers the area of Gliwice and various townships within a radius of 30 km from the city.
Volunteering
The hospice employs 85 medical and non-medical volunteers, who work daily in the ward, and a further 900 occasional volunteers, who help, for instance, with the fundraiser held on 1 November in the cemeteries of Gliwice.
Cordis Hospice Social Society
The Cordis Hospice Social Society [Społeczne Towarzystwo Hospicjum Cordis] is the oldest residential hospice in southern Poland; for 28 years now, it has delivered home and in-patient care to children and adults with terminal cancer, as well as to children suffering from other life-threatening incurable diseases.
The hospice is completely free of charge, which is particularly important, since, after long and costly treatment, our patients and their families often tend to be in a very difficult financial situation.
The Cordis Hospice is a modern centre comprising an out-patient rehabilitation ward and in-patient care ward.
"House of Guardian Angels" Children and Youth Assistance Association
The "House of Guardian Angels" Children and Youth Assistance Association [Stowarzyszenie Pomocy Dzieciom i Młodzieży „Dom Aniołów Stróżów"] has worked for 25 years to help socially excluded children, teenagers and families from the post-mining and post-metallurgic neighbourhoods of Silesia and Zagłębie. Its goal is to usher children and teenagers from excluded environments into adulthood, teach them how to function in broader society, educate them and close the gap between them and their peers. The organization imparts the values of hard work, responsibility and independence. It strives to do its utmost to give young people a vocation, teach them how to build healthy family relations and accompany them every day on a quest for real change.
ISKIERKA Foundation
The ISKIERKA Foundation is a Polish public-benefit organization active since 2006, which specializes in building financial, social and psychological support systems for children with cancer and their families. The foundation provides care for more than 500 children treated in specialized centres in Katowice, Chorzów, Zabrze and Rzeszów, carries out nationwide projects and lends financial support to children treated in other centres in Poland and abroad.
