Community service
Care and social work in the Mokra
There is hardly any other project that runs so consistently: for over 15 years, nurse Bashkim Lilo has been caring for sick people and those in need of care from his base in Bishnica; he is joined by psycho-social support from our social worker. In this way, we offer assistance that the state healthcare system cannot provide.
The situation
The healthcare system in the Mokra region is barely developed. There is a doctor who is available in the region on certain days. However, patients usually have to go to hospital in Pogradec – the journey is very long, roads are poor and public transport is expensive. Care is traditionally provided by the family. But as many young people have moved to the city or abroad, more and more elderly people in the mountain villages are left to fend for themselves.
How our service helps
As part of the community service project, we offer health and psycho-social care, primarily in the administrative unit of Velçan with the villages of Buzahishtë, Senishtë, Laktesh, Bishnica, Spellë, Losnik and Jollë. Our project offers free medical services and care for people with disabilities or chronic illnesses as well as for poor families from the Roma and Egyptian minorities – regardless of people’s skin color, gender, nationality, culture or religion.
Nurse Bashkim Lilo and social worker Valbona Balla are caring for around 50 patients. Most of them are looked after at home though some come to our center in Bishnica. Main focus is the monitoring of diabetics and support for people with disabilities. We also provide care and social support for families, especially through social counseling and education, as well as for elderly, single people.
In special cases, we also take patients to the hospital in Pogradec if their health requires more intensive treatment.
A case study
Dipl.-Med. Dieter Schwanbeck from Germany saw first-hand what our care service in the Mokra means for individuals: “During my visit, I came across a farmer who slipped off a tractor while working in the fields and broke a vertebra in his neck. He was transported in several stages 40 km over bumpy mountain paths and bad roads to the district town of Pogradec, where he lay in a coma for a week. When his family had collected the necessary 2,500 Euros, he was taken to Tirana and successfully operated on. As a surgeon, I know that the best operation can only be completed with good rehabilitation. For this farmer in his remote mountain village, this would have been illusory, both logistically and financially. But with the help of the CHW nursing service, the patient now receives free physiotherapy exercises in his home 3 to 4 times a week. As a result, he is now able to use his right hand again; his left hand is well on the way to doing so. Considering that he was unable to move either hand when he was discharged from hospital, this is a great success – thanks to the help of the CHW.” (August 2014)
2024: The work continues
Even after 15 years, Bashkim Lilo is still on the go in different villages every day
2020/21: Corona aid
Covid19 pandemic and the lockdown worsen already difficult living conditions in the mountain villages. A UNPD funding enables the temporary expansion of material and psycho-social aid in Mokra. Many people who feel left alone in the crisis are benefiting from this.
2007-09: Nursing course
On 01.05.2009, five young Albanians receive their diplomas. The course, carried out in cooperation with Medizinische Nothilfe Albanien (MNA), is still exceptional for the Mokra region today. Three nurses are hired for the nursing project: Bashkim Lilo, Erjola Rapçe and Fieda Abeshi.
2008: Care projekt
Nurse Gentiana Rapçe cares for disabled young people in Bishnica
2004: Start of the care project
Care for the elderly and sick in the Mokra