XVIII Russian-German Forum of Civic Societies 'St. Petersburg Dialogue'

On July 18-19, 2019, the XVIII Russian-German Forum of Civic Societies 'St. Petersburg Dialogue' met at Petersberg near Bonn. The topic of this session was 'Cooperation as Leitmotif of Peace in Europe: Contribution of Civic Societies in Russia and Germany'. The civic discussion forum brought together about 300 specialists from all spheres of society in both countries. The event was attended by representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church and church organizations in Germany.

On July 19, the forum worked in ten working groups for discussions and exchange of experience on their own agendas. The meeting of the Churches in Europe Working Group was devoted to the theme 'Church hospital service in Russian and German societies'.

Reports on church ministry in hospitals in Russia were presented by O.Yu. Egorova, head of the Resource Center for Palliative Care of the St. Dimitry Sisterhood and teacher of the St. Dimitry Sisterhood, visiting nurse of the St. Alexiy Hospital E.B. Lebedeva.

O.Yu. Egorova spoke about diaconal service in the State Infectious Clinical Hospital No. 2 if Moscow on Sokolinaya Gora. Currently, the hospital is the largest infectious diseases hospital in Moscow. Initially, the clinic was designed for all types of infectious diseases, but now, out of 900 hospital beds, 400 are occupied by patients with HIV infection and AIDS. They undergo treatment in four departments, one of which is the intensive care unit, and in the boxed departments in the main building.

Sisters of Mercy have been working in the hospital since 2008. And in 2013, the St Panteleimon church was built on the territory of the hospital. Twice a week, a liturgy is held in the church, prayers, funeral services, baptisms and extreme unction of those staying in the hospital are served.

Currently, a team of Christian nurses and volunteers provides palliative care for HIV-infected patients in this Infectious Hospital - this is a joint project of St. Dmitry Sisterhood and the Orthodox volunteer service "Mercy". The service has 30 prs., including 25 trained volunteers and 5 sisters of mercy. This is a multidisciplinary team of like-minded people whose basic principles are: strategic planning, high coordination of actions, joint decision-making in order to improve the quality of life of patients in need of palliative care, and their families. In addition, this is a community of friends who will always come to help both the sick and each other.

The main task of nursing care for HIV-infected people is to help build patient's commitment to accepting therapy prescribed by a doctor. This process requires an HIV-infected patient to change his lifestyle and habits, and to adopt a different scale of values. During the patient's stay in the hospital, he develops motivation to take antiretroviral therapy, which depends on "presence therapy" (compassion for the patient, communication with him, moral and spiritual support). Here the cooperation of the priest, the sisters of mercy and the voluntary assistants gives the best results. One of the most important tasks in the context of the HIV epidemic is the provision of comprehensive assistance to a person suffering from immunodeficiency; here the spiritual support is as significant for a sick person as medical and psychosocial help.

Due to the activities of the palliative care service, 3,800 patients received medical and social assistance and care for the period 2008-2019, 170 patients were referred to social adaptation and rehabilitation centers, 350 patients restored contact with relatives and were sent home.

E.B. Lebedeva spoke about the various fields of church hospital service in the Russian Orthodox Church. Today, St. Alexy hospital in Moscow is the largest church hospital, designed for 220 beds. This is a multidisciplinary hospital where everyone is admitted, including by ambulance, regardless of confession. Since 2016, the hospital has a palliative department with 65 beds. It differs from other hospitals in that patients can be admitted here without being registered in Moscow and even without documents at all. It has now 60 patients, mostly bedridden. Since 2018, a day department for cancer patients has been operating, where palliative chemotherapy is provided.

In 2019, the second palliative department for 35 prs. opened - it is intended for residents of Moscow.The hospital also has a mobile palliative service, which became the first service in Russia providing respiratory support at home for patients suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The hospital serves as a training base of the St. Dmitry Orthodox College of Sisters of Mercy. The students provide nursing care for the patients of the hospital.

Another example is the St. Ksenia of Petersburg Diocesan Charitable Hospital in St. Petersburg, established in 1990. The hospital has 35 beds. About 110-130 prs. a year are treated here. The patients are parishioners of St. Petersburg churches. The hospital specializes in general therapy and maintaining the health of patients (it doesn't perform surgeries), it provides nursing care, rehabilitation, and social adaptation services.

An example of monastery medical services is the St Ksenia of Petersburg Orthodox Medical Center in Kolomna, which was opened in 1997 to provide free medical care to parishioners, local residents, pilgrims, nuns of the convent. Nuns of the convent with a medical education see the patients. Since its opening the center served more than 15 thousand people.

Shamordino convent has a Geriatric Medical and Social Center named after Empress Maria Feodorovna. Its patients are nuns of the convent, local residents, pilgrims. The center has a hospital for 9 beds, an outpatient clinic, and a dental unit.

St Serafim Convent in Diveevo runs the 'Nadezhda' Medical Center, which operates as a general therapeutic hospital with 50 beds for nuns.

Some regions have consultation centers of the Society of Orthodox Doctors. Help is provided for free.

An important area of medical and social ministry is Church related homes for elderly - today there are more than 60 such homes in various regions.

E.B. Lebedeva also spoke about hospices. On the basis of the first Russian hospice (St. Petersburg), in 1994, the Orthodox St Elisabeth community of sisters and brothers of mercy was established. It was initiated by the doctors of the hospice themselves. In 2004, Archpriest Alexander Tkachenko organized the first children's hospice in Russia in St. Petersburg. Every year it helps more than 300 families. Yekaterinburg diocese runs a hospice service. Since 2002, it has been providing free medical home care for terminally ill patients with its cancer. Throughout the years if its existence it provided assistance to more than 1 thousand prs.

The speaker noted that volunteers from among the parishioners participate in church hospital service along with clergy and sisters of mercy. Church volunteers work in different social areas, including helping to care for patients in hospitals, and providing social support after their discharge from the hospital.

The largest church related volunteer services operate in Moscow - these are the services of volunteers "Mercy" (more than 1250 prs.) and "Danilovtsy" (about 700 prs.), as well as in Yekaterinburg, Rostov, Smolensk, Vladivostok and Khabarovsk dioceses.

Volunteer work, as a rule, does not require special qualifications, however, for some activities, such as hospital service, volunteers undergo special training.

In 2018, a licensed Training Center began operating at the Church Hospital of St. Alexy. It educates nurses, organizes advanced studies courses for nurses. The training center issues state certificates. The volunteers are taught skills of caring for bed ridden patients; two courses of different durations are set up for this purpose. Previously, for 12 years, similar courses operated under the St Dimitry Sisterhood; 260 prs. were trained there.

XVIII Forum 'St. Petersburg Dialogue' traditionally concluded with a solemn ceremony, in which its work was summarized and the Peter Boenisch Prizes were presented.

Based on materials from the DECR Communication Service and reports by O.Yu. Egorova and E.B. Lebedeva.