Stiftung Diakoniewerk Neumünster (Neumuenster Foundation of Diaconal Services) one of our members in Switzerland, is continuing to broaden their competences in Palliative Care. For this, they were last year given the Swiss “Quality Palliative Care” certification. Palliative Care is a holistic treatment and assistance offered to people with serious illness, the primary aim of which is not to heal the illness but to preserve and improve the quality of life. The treatment provided by Stiftung Diakoniewerk Neumünster incorporates not only the work of physicians, nurses and psychologist, but also social workers, nutritionists and occupational therapists, to allow a life as comfortable as possible, and to support and integrate relatives.

Supported by the Swiss national strategy on Palliative Care, Stiftung Diakoniewerk Neumünster puts special effort into this form of care. As part of their new strategy to further personalize their care, aiming to further attend to peoples individual needs (as well as to encounter their clients not just as recipients of care but as persons entitled to rights and dignity), they plan to further specialize in the Palliative Care for elderly people. Also, together with their partners in the Czech Republic, they created a leaflet for employees working in long-term care providing an elementary introduction to Palliative Care. This leaflet will also be published in German by the “Careum Verlag Zürich” this summer.

If you want further information about their work, you can visit their homepage or the site of their palliative care ward.