Support for Informal Caregivers

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Take proper care of your loved ones!

The program is aimed at those who care for family members or loved ones and need advice, assistance, and support — not only in caregiving, but also in caring for themselves. It offers free individual counselling, caregiver support, home visits, and the opportunity to use a training room at the Charita headquarters.

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Care Service

Care Service

We provide help, support, and care at pre-arranged times in the natural home environment of people with reduced self-sufficiency and families with children whose situation requires assistance from another person. The service is tailored to their individual needs, abilities, and circumstances. We help, for example, with hygiene, cleaning, and meal serving. We also arrange grocery shopping, transport to medical appointments, and meal delivery. This service is subject to a fee.

Thanks to the support of the EP Corporate Group Foundation, Charity of České Budějovice has been running a project since August 2024 focused on training employees of the Care Service and Personal Assistance. Through specialized courses, we aim to increase the professional qualifications and expertise of our staff and improve the quality of our services, with a special focus on seniors and people with disabilities in their homes. The selected training topics include, for example, managing challenging situations, conflict resolution, communication and activation techniques, or experiencing the world through the eyes of a person with dementia using virtual reality. We are grateful for this support. You can find us in České Budějovice and Týn nad Vltavou.

Do you want to support the Care Service in its work?
Simply scan the QR code using your bank’s mobile app.

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Example of Good Practice

Mrs. Pavla lives alone in a small apartment in a block of flats. She keeps in touch with her family only through her granddaughter, who is, however, very busy and travels a lot, so she cannot provide the level of help Mrs. Pavla needs.

Mrs. Pavla was no longer able to go shopping or cook her main meals, so her granddaughter contacted and started using the Care Service of Charity of České Budějovice for her grandmother. Later, Mrs. Pavla’s health worsened, and she had to spend a long time in hospital. Her condition declined so much that a hospital worker arranged for her to move to a nursing home. She stayed there for a year but was not happy — she longed to return home, and her mental health deteriorated.

At that point, her granddaughter once again reached out to Charity of České Budějovice, asking if we could help her grandmother at home with the activities she could no longer manage on her own. Together with the granddaughter, we made sure that Mrs. Pavla’s home was safe and prepared the necessary assistive devices that are essential for her daily functioning (a walker, a raised toilet seat, an overbed trapeze, etc.). On the day she came home, her lunch and groceries were already arranged according to her wishes.

Since then, Mrs. Pavla has been using our services for regular cleaning and household maintenance and for assistance with personal hygiene. We also handled all the necessary paperwork (an application for an increased care allowance and related benefits). Over time, Mrs. Pavla settled back in at home, her mental health improved, and she expressed a wish to spend time with someone — talking, going for walks, or having someone read to her. By agreement, our social worker arranged for Charity’s Personal Assistance service to visit her three times a week and spend active, meaningful time with her according to her wishes.

Mrs. Pavla is now content, because she can live with dignity in her own apartment, in an environment she has known all her life and where she feels safe.

Mission and Goals of the Service

We provide help, support, and care at agreed times in the natural home environment of people with reduced self-sufficiency and families with children whose situation requires assistance from another person. The service is provided according to their individual needs, abilities, and circumstances. We help these people, for example, with hygiene, cleaning, and meal serving. We also arrange grocery shopping, transport to medical appointments, and meal delivery.

The goal is to ensure, through the activities of Charity’s Care Service, support and care for basic daily needs so that the user can remain in their own home.

 

Home Health Care

Home Health Care

We provide health care in the natural home environment. This care is delivered by nurses and is intended for anyone whose health condition has worsened to the point that the family can no longer manage care alone, yet hospitalization is not necessary. Care is provided directly in the patient’s home based on an indication (recommendation) from their attending physician or the doctor who cared for them during hospitalization. This service is free for users and is covered by public health insurance.

An integral part of this health care service is the provision of hospice/palliative care, which includes care for patients in the terminal stage of life.

 

Example of Good Practice:

In 2021, we admitted a client into the Home Health Care service of Charity of České Budějovice — a middle-aged man who had suffered a stroke. Home health care was prescribed by the doctor who had looked after him in hospital, which meant our care could immediately follow on from his hospital treatment. At the same time, the Care Service was arranged to help him with personal hygiene. The next referral was managed by the patient’s general practitioner.

The patient had limited mobility in his right limbs and was bedridden, but with assistance he was able to move around in bed. He had a urinary catheter. His mental condition was poor. As part of our care, we provided rehabilitation nursing, changed the urinary catheter, and educated both the patient and his family about positioning and sitting techniques. We also helped them choose the right assistive devices.

The patient and his family especially appreciated that they did not have to travel to the hospital for catheter changes, as we were able to provide this service at home. In the first two months, we visited for rehabilitation five times a week, then three times a week. When needed, and according to the doctor’s instructions, we took blood samples at home and administered injections.

During our care, the mobility of the patient’s right limbs improved, as did his level of independence. He is now able to stand up on his own with the support of an assistive device and can walk a few steps around the room. Thanks to improved mobility and self-sufficiency, his mental condition also improved. We are very glad that through our professional and dedicated approach, we could help improve his quality of life.

 

Personal Assistance

Personal Assistance

We provide help, support, and care with everyday tasks for people who, due to disability, limited mobility, or age, need assistance to be able to stay in their natural home environment. This service supports users in achieving greater self-sufficiency and enables them to participate fully in everyday and social life. Personal Assistance is available from the age of three.

It includes help with hygiene, dressing, preparing and serving meals, accompaniment to medical appointments or for walks. We also help users spend their free time in meaningful ways, for example by doing memory exercises, reading, or playing board games.

The service is provided for longer periods — one hour or more — and is subject to a fee.

Thanks to the support of the EP Corporate Group Foundation, Charity of České Budějovice has been running a project since August 2024 focused on training employees of the Care Service and Personal Assistance. Through these courses, we aim to increase the professional qualifications and expertise of our staff and improve the quality of services provided, with a focus on seniors and people with disabilities living at home.

The selected training topics include, for example, managing challenging situations, conflict resolution, communication and activation techniques, and offering insight into the world through the eyes of a person living with dementia using virtual reality.

We are grateful for this support.

Example of Good Practice:

Mrs. Jitka lives alone in an apartment in a block of flats. At the beginning of the year, she fell at home, called for help, and it took a long time before her neighbors heard her and called the Emergency Medical Service. Mrs. Jitka spent about a month in hospital with a broken leg. When she returned home, her granddaughter moved in temporarily to take care of her. Mrs. Jitka was happy to have her granddaughter staying with her and got used to her help. However, the granddaughter needed to care for her own family too, so she moved out.

At first, Mrs. Jitka had a hard time adjusting to this situation and kept thinking about how she had fallen at home, which made her afraid to be there alone. For this reason, she contacted the Personal Assistance service of Charity of České Budějovice. After her injury, Mrs. Jitka had difficulty walking and could only move with the help of a walker. At first, she did not even want to get out of bed.

We started visiting Mrs. Jitka twice a day — in the morning and in the evening. It took some time for her to get used to the assistants. Although she was happy to see them and enjoyed talking with them, she refused activities, even though she could not manage personal hygiene or walks outside on her own. It took about two months for the assistants to gain her trust.

Thanks to this, Mrs. Jitka’s physical condition — and especially her mental well-being — gradually improved. Now the assistants help her with all her needs — they help her with hygiene in the bathroom, prepare her breakfast, and keep her company for conversations. Mrs. Jitka likes to look at family photos, read with the assistants, and go through magazines together, especially recipes. They practice walking around the apartment with a walker and even go for short walks outside. Mrs. Jitka has even started to enjoy her morning leg exercises, even though her leg still hurts sometimes.

Thanks to Personal Assistance, Mrs. Jitka is much calmer, feels good and safe in her own apartment again, and is happy to have company without relying only on her family’s help.

 

Low-Threshold Centres for Children and Youth

Low-Threshold Centres for Children and Youth

We are a social service that offers a safe space and provides help in difficult life situations. Our goal is to support children and young people in coping with any life challenge and to find the best possible solution together. This service is provided free of charge.

We operate Low-Threshold Centres in České Budějovice, Zliv, and Týn nad Vltavou.

The year 2021 was still significantly affected by restrictions, which partly influenced our activities. Among our users, there was an increased interest and activity especially in support with school preparation and catching up on lessons. During this period, we also managed to strengthen and deepen our relationships with schools and individual teachers.

Following our cooperation, we once again offered schools the possibility of preventive programs, which were gladly taken up by Nová Elementary School. From our offer, they chose the topics of healthy teeth and healthy nutrition, which were attended by nine classes from the first stage. At the same time, the schools asked us to prepare a program on the topics of bullying and truancy, again for the entire first stage. We prepared this topic according to their requirements.

Thanks to this more intensive cooperation, many new children who had not yet come to us started attending our centre. This cooperation helps both us and the individual teachers to work with the children in a more targeted way.

Example of Good Practice:

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SAS – Social Activation Service for Families with Children

SAS – Social Activation Service for Families with Children

We provide services for families with children or individuals caring for a child who have found themselves in a life crisis such as job loss, debt trap, risk of losing housing, relationship problems, divorce, parenting difficulties, or child removal. We help families maintain or create conditions for the healthy development of their children. This service is provided free of charge.

Example of Good Practice:

Mrs. Jana turned to our service after she decided to leave her partner with her daughter. During the COVID crisis, her partner lost his job and took out his frustration on her, both mentally and physically. Mrs. Jana came to our office in poor mental condition; she was living with her parents in a small apartment and did not know what to do. She needed help finding stable housing for herself and her daughter, securing her finances — since her partner refused to accept that she had left him — and, above all, stabilizing her mental state.

At the first meeting, we informed Mrs. Jana about the possibility of applying for a municipal apartment through the City Housing Administration, and about housing and child benefits available through the Labour Office. We accompanied her to an organization that helps people at risk of domestic violence and provides professional psychological support. This helped her cope with her difficult situation mentally.

At the next meeting, we helped Mrs. Jana fill in the forms for the Labour Office and apply for a municipal apartment. Mrs. Jana told us that she was attending counselling sessions that were greatly helping to improve her mental health. The next step in our cooperation was to submit an application for sole custody of her daughter and child support.

For two months, we stayed in contact with Mrs. Jana and provided her with social counselling. Although she was granted access to affordable housing through the City Housing Administration, she chose a standard rental apartment instead, which a friend helped her find. She was granted child and housing benefits by the Labour Office. Even though she is still on parental leave, she found a part-time job that she works while her daughter is in kindergarten.

In cooperation with the Child Protection Authority (OSPOD), she applied for sole custody of her daughter and the determination of child support payments. Mrs. Jana is very self-sufficient and only needed an initial push from our service to start building a new life with her daughter and to feel safe. For ongoing psychological support, she still attends individual sessions once a week.

We are very glad that we could help this family overcome such a difficult life situation.

 

Counselling Centre Eva — a civic counselling centre — offers advice, support, and an open approach to people over the age of 18 who find themselves in difficult life situations, such as relationship problems within the family, financial difficulties, dealing with authorities, or housing issues. It also helps those at risk of facing similar situations.

The centre provides assistance with submitting an application for debt relief (the centre is accredited to provide services in the area of debt relief).

This service is provided free of charge.

Example of Good Practice:

Mrs. Milena came to the counselling centre at a time when she no longer knew where to turn. After a recent divorce, she had to move out because she had been living in an apartment in her ex-husband’s parents’ house, and living together after the divorce had become unbearable. When she came to the counselling centre, she was living with her children in a temporary municipal crisis apartment, which she was allowed to use only for a limited period of a few months.

 

Securing alternative housing was very complicated for Mrs. Milena, and she did not know what to do next. She did not have the money to pay a standard deposit, a real estate agency fee, and other expenses. From the crisis apartment, she had to travel with her children — especially her son — to a special school. Her son could not manage the journey alone. She had to accompany him every day by bus with several transfers.

 

Together, we started working on finding suitable housing, stabilizing the family situation, and finding a suitable job that would allow her to balance work with the demanding care of her son. Another goal was to arrange at least temporary personal assistance for accompanying her son and to secure a care allowance for him. Mrs. Milena was included in financial support provided by Counselling Centre Eva through the Jistota Foundation.

 

Finding housing was the number one priority, as she had to leave the temporary apartment. We contacted many housing offers, including municipal housing. The first meeting with a new landlord failed — the landlord wanted her to pay some kind of deposit in advance without any receipt. After our social worker stepped in, the landlord never responded again. The second promised apartment fell through because the owner refused to accept a guarantee from our organization and said she did not want “any charity cases.”

In the end, we managed to find suitable housing on the regular rental market. Then we arranged the benefits Mrs. Milena was entitled to and started looking for suitable employment. The family has now moved. They live close enough to the school that the children can walk there, and there is no longer any need to accompany them. Personal assistance for school travel is no longer needed. Mrs. Milena has found a stable job instead of temporary gigs and is satisfied.

The new start after the divorce has been successful. We are now working to secure the care allowance for her son and to set up a sustainable balance between caregiving and work so that Mrs. Milena, as a caregiver, can continue to manage both roles long-term and have enough strength for everything she needs.

 

Domino

Domino

Domino is a welcoming place for people with mental illness who are undergoing long-term treatment. It offers a space to share worries, get help with social problems, and take part in various therapeutic activities aimed at improving mental health.

No one here is judged or condemned. If you need help or simply don’t want to be alone at home, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us with trust.

This service is provided free of charge.

Example of Good Practice:

Helena came to Domino following a stay in a psychiatric hospital. Despite treatment, her condition was still poor — she was very tearful and found it difficult to travel or be around many people. She had recently divorced and was taking care of her underage daughter on her own. It was mainly because of her daughter that she wanted to fight and do everything she could to return to her usual activities and have a harmonious relationship with her child.

Helena receives a second-degree disability pension, but this income was not enough to cover her household expenses. So together we started looking for work. She showed interest in working in our ceramics workshop, where she proved to be very skilled and talented. Gradually, she gained confidence and self-assurance; working with clay gave her a way to take her mind off negative thoughts. It also allowed her to test her endurance and focus, and to better understand what type of work she could manage when looking for a job.

Thanks to her experience and “training” in the social therapeutic workshop, Helena found a part-time job in another ceramics workshop, where she now earns a wage that, combined with her disability pension, is enough to cover her needs and those of her growing daughter. Her mental condition has stabilized within the limits of her chronic illness, and she has achieved the goal she set in her individual plan. She is able to cope with everyday life in society and can now leave Domino.

 

House of St. Paul

House of St. Paul

House of St. Paul is a social services centre for people experiencing homelessness. It offers several services, including a low-threshold day centre for women and men (provided free of charge), a night shelter, and a halfway house for men.

Each service has its own specifics, but they all share a common approach: not to judge or assess, but to offer a helping hand.

Example of Good Practice:

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Field Program

Field Program

We provide support for people experiencing homelessness and those in crisis situations. We help them meet their basic needs and make it easier for them to return to everyday life.

The Field Program operates within the city of České Budějovice, including its outskirts, and in the administrative district of the municipality with extended powers of České Budějovice.

This service is provided free of charge.

Example of Good Practice

Mr. Miroslav has been a user of the Field Program for several years. He is a middle-aged man. The first contact with him was made when he had spent his first few days on the street — he had lost both his job and his housing and had no savings to find a new place to live. At that time, he was still reluctant to use services such as the K-Centre or the men’s halfway house. The Field Program worker therefore provided him with food, material, and hygiene support through the service and motivated him at every contact to use other services (the K-Centre, House of St. Paul), which he did begin to use during the first three months.

Mr. Miroslav tried to earn some money through various temporary jobs and refused to apply for material need benefits. However, he was hospitalized several times for longer periods and each time returned to the street — usually sleeping under a bridge — and again refused to use the services offered.

After some time, the Field Program worker managed to actively help Mr. Miroslav register with the Labour Office and submit an application for material need benefits. Filing the application was all the more complicated because Mr. Miroslav did not have permanent residence in South Bohemia.

Eventually, he was motivated enough to find a job that also offered accommodation. Unfortunately, during his probationary period, the employer could not provide him with accommodation because the lodging facility was full. Mr. Miroslav therefore commuted 30 km to physically demanding work while continuing to sleep under a bridge. Despite this, he managed to stay in the job throughout the probationary period and now has accommodation at his employer’s lodging facility.

He remains in contact with the Field Program worker, with whom he regularly addresses his social situation. He is motivated to keep his job and maintain his current stable situation.

Halfway House for Men

This service is intended for men without shelter and for men in difficult life situations connected with the loss of a home or housing. We offer clients over the age of 18 the possibility of temporary accommodation and support. By creating a safe environment, providing social counselling, and offering activation activities, we help them gain the skills needed to return to everyday life.

Low-Threshold Day Centre

This service is intended for men and women over the age of 18 who are without shelter. We do not judge what a client “deserves” — we offer help to those who need it. Clients can use the centre’s facilities for personal hygiene, a small kitchen, and receive free hot soup (or other available food assistance). They can also seek help from a social worker when dealing with their difficult life situation. This service is provided free of charge.

Night Shelter for Men

Through this service, we offer men without a home, aged 18 and over, the possibility to spend the night in a warm, clean, and dignified environment. Clients can also use bathroom facilities and a small kitchen. As part of the service, we provide basic information about other social services (the Low-Threshold Day Centre, Halfway House) that could help clients if they are interested in improving their difficult situation.

Treatment Room

The purpose of the Treatment Room project is to provide new Halfway House clients at the House of St. Paul with an initial health check and to offer basic medical care and dressing changes for people living on the street, thus reducing the impact of homelessness on their health.

 

Assistive Devices

Assistive Devices

This service is intended mainly for people who, due to an adverse health condition, find themselves in a difficult situation — either temporarily or permanently (for example, after surgery, during rehabilitation following an injury, or while waiting for their own assistive device to be approved by a specialist doctor) — and need to borrow an assistive device.

We provide:

  • advice on choosing the right device
  • instructions on how to use it
  • delivery of the selected device to the home

We rent out walkers, adjustable beds, commode chairs, anti-decubitus mattresses, manual wheelchairs, oxygen concentrators, and more.