Volunteering: A valuable experience and a new perspective

摘要

Volunteers enhance the quality and range of health care. Although dying is a universal experience, volunteering in an international context brings complex-cultural and practical challenges (McGannan and Jackson, 2010). I recently spent a week with Smile International at Kujdesi Paliativ in Gjakova, Kosovo. The service opened in May 2011 with a part-time doctor and a nurse, and a year later a second nurse was appointed. Gjakova is the third largest city in Kosovo and was severely affected by civil war in 1999. Kosovo is one of the poorest countries in Europe. A third of the population live below the poverty line and 12% in extreme poverty (World Bank and Statistical Office of Kosovo, 2011). Life expectancy is low, and many elderly Kosovars live with multiple long-term conditions (Jerliu et al, 2013). This is associated with increased symptom load (Chaudhry et al, 2013), compounded by ongoing psychological and physical harm from the war (Wang etal, 2010).