Johnová (Praha sebo): Prague is closing the Svojšice institute, clients have moved to new homes
Johnová (Praha sebo): Prague is closing the Svojšice institute, clients have moved to new homes.
In November, the capital will complete the three-year transformation process of Domov Svojšice. The last clients move from an institutional facility for people with disabilities to new homes in small community services. The care of people with disabilities has fundamentally changed in Prague during the current election period, when the practice of transferring people with disabilities to institutions outside the territory of the capital city is gradually ending. The change in approach has the support of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs as well as client organizations of the Alliance for Individualized Support and others.
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Domov Svojšice became a symbol of change in Prague. The state of the castle building in Svojšice was found to be unsatisfactory for a long time already in 2008, yet social services for people with mental illness and mental handicaps were not provided until 2019, when Councilor Milena Johnová started the process of modernizing care for the very vulnerable residents of the home.
“We asked each client where they would like to live, and based on that we created new services that were sorely lacking in Prague for many years. Right now, she is leaving for a new home as part of the community services of the last of the clients, and I am extremely grateful that Prague is finally thinking of the most vulnerable among us. But there is still a long way to go before the capital, there are still over a thousand beds outside of Prague. In order to ensure the availability of care in Prague, we need to create around a thousand places in community social services in the territory, and that as quickly as possible. We know of four hundred people who are still waiting for care. It is necessary to enable all people to live with dignity and within the reach of their familiar environment,” Milena Johnová, councilor for social policy and healthcare, described the process of transformation.
“The creation and implementation of transformation plans is also supported by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. In general, support for deinstitutionalization processes throughout the Czech Republic, not only in Prague, is one of the Ministry’s main priorities in the development of care for persons with disabilities,” said Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Zuzana Odstrčilová.
In Domov Svojšice, clients lived only in bed rooms, the operation of the home had a strictly institutional character, which did not respect the wishes of the clients. “We see how people have blossomed after leaving the institution. They are more independent, they are interested in the world around them, some older ones are re-establishing broken relationships with their relatives and friends from Prague. The example of the Svojšice Castle shows, among other things, that it is possible to proceed quickly so that people do not needlessly wait for better quality care. Transformation for all clients, including those who need a large amount of care and support, is possible within three years. I would especially like to thank the leadership of the Department of Social Affairs for this, because without it we could not have taken any significant step on the way to modernizing care,” explained Martin Kahánek, director of the contribution organization hl. m Prague Center for Community Services For Life. This “successor” organization today provides sheltered housing, personal assistance, support for independent living, social rehabilitation, a home with a special regime and other community social services.
Other facilities outside of Prague are undergoing transformation into services that meet the needs and preferences of their clients. “For people who have spent part of their lives in institutional-type facilities, this change is also very demanding. That is why we pay attention to thorough preparation, which includes both evaluating the needs of the person in question, planning the course of the transition, and training the staff. The transformation of social services is not a question of need or desire, but a legitimate development trend, based firmly on the concept of human rights,” explained Igor Tjutčev, director of the Prague non-profit organization Domov Zvíkovecká Kytička na Rokycansk.
“I will allow myself a rhetorical question. Who among you would want to live in a large institution and have another hundred roommates? Who would want to lose their privacy, the ability to decide how to spend their time? In the alliance, we realize that the transformation of social services is a challenging task for Prague. However, we consider the dissolution of large-capacity institutions into small community-type services to be an absolutely key process that increases the quality of life of people with disabilities. It’s a direction that supports the right of a person with a disability to choose available social care services in their area,” said Kristýna Mlejnková, executive director of the Alliance for Individualized Support.
“We are also undergoing changes. We no longer have triple rooms, only double and single rooms, we practice independence with clients and strengthen their ability to make decisions about everyday activities. Clients perceive these improvements and develop themselves, for example, they feel like making their room cozier. The employees perceived the extra work, but they quickly got used to the new approach and I’m glad that there is a change in their thinking: Let’s ask what the clients want,” explained Jana Ryšánková, director of the Home with a Special Regime in Terezín.
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