Managementul instituțiilor de îngrijire a persoanelor vârstnice. Studiu de caz: Centrul de Servicii Sociale „Sfântul Gheorghe”, Parohia Ortodoxă Românași, Episcopia Sălajului

Abstract

Management of care institutions for elderly. Case study: The Social Services Center „St. George”, Orthodox Parish Românași, The Episcopate of Sălaj. Institutional care is the most intensive form of long-term care. This type of care is aimed at people whose degree of autonomy is significantly diminished, who require support in carrying out daily activities as well as specialist care. Institutionalisation is both a failure and an opportunity. It is a failure of social policies on active ageing, a failure for the ability of families to integrate and value the elderly relative, a psycho-emotional failure for the in-patient who has to start a new life in an institution providing social services, albeit in a community with similar needs as their own. On the other hand, institutionalisation is often the salvific solution for the person who needs to live the last part of their life with dignity, cared for with responsibility, treated with respect and surrounded by love. It is an opportunity for those who can no longer bear the burden of loneliness, for those who are trying to preserve or regain some of their autonomy, for those who need a safe environment adapted to their personal needs. It is a breakthrough solution for families overwhelmed by the care needs of elderly family members or for those unable to take responsibility for the personal care of relatives. In a nursing home under the Church’s care, the very environment, Christ in the chalice, the icons on the walls, the smell of basil and incense, the antidoron and the oil, the gentle voices, the tender touches, the deft hands and serene faces of those who serve the Lord who has taken the form of a suffering man, all help suffering become spiritualised and pain become transformed into the murmur of a psalm. The management of a successful social institution is technically identical to that of any other competitive organisation. The aim, however, is fundamentally different; the profit sought by a social establishment of the Church is the wellbeing, the assistance, the comfort and the consolation of those under its care. A spiritually-based management does not exclude the general means of managerial activity, but imbues them with a spiritual dimension, the intrinsic motivation of actions being the serving of Christ who identifies with each beneficiary of the services provided in the institutional setting, but also with each employee and volunteer. The binding force of all these actions, in an act of spiritualised management, is love for one’s brothers and sisters, responsibility towards one’s fellow human beings, and fidelity to the Christian vision of the organisation’s mission. From this perspective, the activity of institutional care for the elderly is an act of service, the beneficiary is not a client but the recipient of loving action, the employee is a fellow-servant, the Church is not the person-in-charge but a source of blessing and a model of love. The supreme motivation for all the effort made - material, physical and spiritual - is the desire to fulfil the call of Christ.