Right to care: Italian Buddhist Union supports the CARE for Homeless project

No one can be left alone in the most difficult moments of life, especially those who live on the margins, without a home and a network of parents and friends at their side to face an incurable illness or the end of life.
It is from this principle that the project was born C.A.R.E. for Homeless supported by Humanitarian Call 2024 Of Italian Buddhist Union with the funds raised through the 8×1000.

The project, in continuity with our services related to the right to care, aims to guarantee continuous socio-health care and respectful and empathetic support to homeless people in Milan, suffering from severe illnesses or at the end of life.

Thanks to the support of the Italian Buddhist Union we will be able to:

• guarantee social and health assistance to homeless sick people discharged from hospitals and welcomed into ours Reparto Post Acute for Homeless. The Centre, a protected structure that houses 20 beds, offers social support and post-hospital medical and nursing care, without which those living on the streets would be exposed to inevitable relapses and new hospitalizations. Due to the clinical picture compromised by chronic diseases, hospitalization times of the people we welcome they often exceed the 30 days foreseen by the agreements.
• activate a “Relief” service with 5 beds dedicated to homeless people in the severe or terminal phase of the disease. Thanks to the involvement of medical-nursing staff and appropriately trained volunteers, guests will receive healthcare, psychological support and human and emotional accompaniment, to face illness or the end of life with the certainty of no longer being alone.
• forming a team of 45 specialized operators and 15 volunteers in delicate task of offering emotional as well as medical supportto suffering and seriously ill people in the final stages of their lives. The training courses, held by a psychologist and an expert on the topics of bereavement and the end of life, will help the team to develop and improve essential skills in the care relationship: listening skills, empathy and compassion.

As Philip Sciannapresident of the Italian Buddhist Union:

The 2024 Humanitarian Call it is based on the awareness of the connection between living beings and intends to enhance practices that respect all forms of life.
In particular, focuses on support in moments when the fragility of existence is expressed most evidently. For this reason, the selected projects promote compassion, the alleviation of suffering and respect for the rights and dignity of each sentient being.