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ROMAN CATHOLIC
NURSING HOME
SAINT ELISABETH
CHILD CARE HOME
2633 Ipolytölgyes, Kossuth u. 32.
Tel/fax: (06 -27) 376-073
The brief description of
the institution
Our institution is one of the largest homes maintained
by the Catholic Church to care- nurse disabled people. It is situated
in the northern corner of Pest county, along river Ipoly, at the
foot of the Börzsöny hills, in a small village of 300 inhabitants
called Ipolytölgyes.
Past and present
The SAINT ELISABETH HEALTH CARE HOME OF CHILDREN was
originally built for 80 persons out of the uninhabited parsonage,
and started operating in 1896.
In 1992 the facility had been further extended to receive 40 more
persons, in order to continue to care for their patients after the
completed the age of 18, and to enable them to stay in the environment
they got used to up to the end of their life.
At present there are 150 disabled children and young people living
in the Home. The terms "Health Care " and "Children" in the name
of the facility are no longer valid, yet we retained the original
name with the emphasis put on the last term of the name: HOME.
The Home is offered to the guardianship of Saint
Elisabeth of Hungary. Her personality, life -concentrated
on helping the poor, the downtrodden - are close to our heart.
For life which can be lived
The key objective of our Home is to develop, employ
the people we care for the way that suits them individually. For
this purpose we built in 1999 a new building for employment. The
young people who are less disabled and live here and those who commute
from the region can perform various types of useful work, together
with persons with changed capabilities.
They are weaving, making candles, clay ceramics, help in the work
of the printing office. We make everyday life of our patients more
colourful by organising cultural programmes, summertime vacation,
excursions.
We are trying to improve the conditions of more disabled people
by movement therapy, light, sound and perfume therapy. On the occasion
of our traditional holidays the residents, staff of our Home and
the residents of the village provide entertainment by various programmes
for each other.
We have a separate hall for our religious teacher who, apart from
teaching Christian belief provides spiritual assistance and performs
education. We have Holy Mass in our chapel once a week where staff
members and nurselings pray together, for their relatives and friends.
Access to the institution
From Budapest by car along highway 2 or 2/A up to
Vác, then along River Danube along highway 12 up to Szob then turning
to Letkés. From the Western Railway station of Budapest the passenger
train travelling hourly to Szob and from there by bus we can reach
Ipolytölgyes. The distance from Budapest is 80km.
Religious belief and service
During the over one and a half decades of operation
thousands of people have visited us. Some as assistants, others
as sponsors or visitors, still others were members for some period
of our 100-head staff. Everybody has brought something here, support,
work or smile. And nobody who has considered the teaching of the
Bible has left "empty handed":
"I am telling you
what you have done even with one
of my smallest brothers you did with me "
The Gospel according to Saint Matthew 25. 40
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