A lot of manual work in the Sint-Jozef residential care center in Ruiselede. The sisters of the monastic community from which the Curando care organization grew, put pieces of scarf together. It symbolizes how the centers of the non-profit organization make ends meet, it says. ‘What is the plan for elderly care?’ is also the question here, now that the Flemish government wants to make significant savings. Dirk Lips, general director of the non-profit organization Curando: “It now seems as if one can reduce the allowance, prohibit the daily price from increasing and still expect that high-quality warm care can continue to be paid for. That is not possible. The people here have paid social contributions all their lives. They are simply entitled to high-quality warm care. That was the deal we had with each other in our society.”
Keep up the conversation
Residents, family, volunteers and staff have been knitting the pieces of the ‘warm’ scarf in recent weeks, because despite this, the centers remain committed to providing warm care. The scarf is 85 meters long. “We are going to keep it for a while, perhaps hang it up in our different houses or let it circulate so that we can always have a new conversation with everyone. Later on, we may loosen all the pieces and make patchwork blankets out of them.”
Previously, there was an open letter from the healthcare sector to Flemish Minister of Welfare Gennez. They will soon also send her a petition with about 24,000 signatures.